Travel Seoul: Olleh KT Wifi Prepaid Card (How-to)

Let us all take a moment to take in the fact that 2 months of 2015 have already passed. So fast, right? I know! I know! I have the same thoughts! I can't believe January and February flew by just like that. However, reality is here and we can do nothing but embrace the month of March, which just arrived.

On one of my travel posts, I mentioned that one of the first things we did when we arrived in South Korea was getting our T-money loaded (for easy commute on trains, buses, taxi, etc.) and grabbing an Olleh Wifi prepaid card. Both of these things can be done in GS25, which is a convenience store that we saw nearby the bus station.

The thing about Korea is that there are a lot of Olleh wifi networks all over Seoul. There are networks in most tourists spots and subway stations. The only down side is that most of it are password protected so if you don't have the pin, you won't be able to access them. This is frustrating especially to those who want to update their social media real time or maybe if you just didn't bother to get roaming since messenger apps are used by everyone nowadays. (Raise your hand if you can relate.)

One cheap solution to this is getting the Olleh KT Wifi prepaid card. At first, I didn't know if I should make a separate post about this but since one of my readers, Claudine, wanted to know about it, I thought making one would be worth it.

South Korea Day 2 (Gyeongbuokgung Palace, Lotte World): Review

After uploading my travel entry about South Korea last week and after getting my South Korea vlog published, I am now more motivated to continue writing about my experiences when I was roaming around Seoul. Here's my second  post where I will be going about what happened during my second day in South Korea.

Late night snack at 2AM before sleeping-- Spicy Chicken is really spicy!!!

On Day 2, we started our day late. We didn't plan it this way but since we got back to the hostel at around 3AM from trying to explore the streets of Myengdong (while snowing) and having a late night snack, we ended up waking up a few hours after our original plan. We knew our itinerary was going to get messed up but we still managed. How? Read on and find out.

Originally, our second day was planned to be our Nami Island/ Petite France day. But seeing as it was  snowing, we chickened out. We can only imagine how cold it's going to be when we get on the ferry trip with a weather that could possibly freeze us so we quickly decided to switch in our day 5 plans for this day.

Travel: South Korea Day 1

Hi everyone! Today's blog post is something I'm really excited about. I've put off writing about it for a long period of time but last night I decided it's time for me to reminisce my good old days in South Korea. Oh, and there's a vlog at the end of this post if you're interested to just watch what little clips I filmed during our first day.

credits to owner

If you're a new reader, I think it is just courtesy for me to let you know that since 2007, I've been a Korean culture enthusiast. It started off with my love for Korean drama, which actually helped me to stumble upon Korean pop music. Little did I know, I was already hooked on anything Korean. This is why it doesn't come as a surprise that one of my dreams is to actually visit the land of South Korea.

Monea Curl Defining Milk: Review

HELLOOOOOO FEBRUARY!!! I can't believe January is over but the calendar doesn't lie. It really is the second month of the year. Time flies... How was your January? If you ask me, it was uneventful. The only new thing that happened in my life is that I started teaching english to Japanese students. Other than that, I've been doing nothing but blogging and youtubing.

Having permed hair is not only a tedious job, it can also be expensive. When I had straight hair, I didn't put anything on my hair after drying. I can go out without any product on my hair. These days, however, I have to apply something to define my curls and make it not look bushy. Most of the time, it's a hair mousse. Sometimes, however, I go for the cheaper alternative, the Monea Curl Defining Milk.

On days when I just stay at home and a friend would quickly drop by for a visit or if I just have to head out to the nearest drug store, I feel that using mousse can be a little too much. True, mousse won't empty my wallet out but sometimes, I just need a valid reason to actually put it on my hair. When I can't find one, I use this instead. It just costs PHP99 so I know I'm not wasting money on trying to look decent for just a few minutes.

South Korea, I'm Coming for You: Korean Tourist Visa Application

Let's see your list. You are a K-Pop fan? Check. You love Korean dramas? Check. You want to shop for Korean beauty cosmetics straight from where it's created? Check. Or you're just a traveller at heart? Check. Whatever your reason is, I'm sure your goal is to get to visit the beautiful land of South Korea. But if you're a Filipino citizen like me, the very first thing you have to do is get your visa.

 Credits to Korean Tourism Organization

Now I'm not sure if I told you this before but right now, I am in between jobs. I am a nurse by profession and I used to be an ICU nurse. I already got the experience I needed and I resigned from my position due to reasons I will not stipulate in this post (Say no to dramatic post). Anyway, I decided to explore my opportunities abroad but it won't be until next year as I have a lot of papers to process and frankly speaking, I'm not yet ready emotionally. So in summary, I am currently unemployed. I will be an english tutor soon but I don't think it will have any bearing at all right now. The problem of Korean visa application now comes in.

A Good Surprise (Giveaway Contest Winner= ME!)

I don't know if you still remember my previous feature about Syuri/ Jasmine. Anyway, it's okay if you don't because I'll provide a link to that post HERE. Do check that post out so you can view the links to her youtube channel and blog. Do follow her and subscribe. :)

Anyway, I mentioned in the previous post that I joined her giveaways and yesterday, I was really tired because I went to Makati for final instructions on my upcoming training and when I got home, I checked my youtube channel and I found out that I won her giveaway! Yay! :D

I watched her video announcement over and over again just to be sure it was really me who won and yeah, I was really excited that I did win! When the announcement finally kicked into my system, I got up and jumped around the house! I was super duper happy! I told my mom (and all the people around the house) about the good news and a big smile was plastered all over my face. After all the ramblings and such, I went back into my room and thanked Syuri through comments and sent her a message in youtube. Anyway, I'm just super duper happy and until now, I just can't hide my happiness about what just transpired. It was my first time entering a contest through video response and I'm just overwhelmed I won.

Anyway, once again, I'm enouraging you all to follow her blog and subscribe to her youtube channel. She's such a sweet girl and she's got great tutorials (both inspired and original looks). And if by chance, Jasmine drops by this blog post, I'd just like to thank her once again. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!

That's all for now, bye! :)

Summer Nail Art

I was just playing around with my nails and  here's what I did:

 with flash

without flash

I was actually able to film a tutorial on this but I'm not sure if it's worth posting. Anyway, just sharing. Personally, I like it. It screams summer. All the colors are from Orly's Play Collection: 'Total Knockout', 'Fore!' and 'Bump, Set, Spike'. Color codes are 584, 583 and 582. What do you think? :)

Nail Art is Addictive: My Story

Yes, it's true. Nail art is addictive. It may look like a lot of work but for someone like me who has nothing much to do, nail art is really enjoying! I was really hesitant at first because I simply thought nail art is hard to do. Well, yes, there are some designs that are a bit time consuming but there are simple striking designs out there that you may want to try out.

I learned a couple of designs through youtube and sometimes, I combine techniques I've learned or "experiment" on other ways to do it. Below are some of the nail arts I've done.

I'm not really an expert in this field and as you can see the designs I've done are not really precise but anyway, it's fun to do. I'll try to share How-Tos on some simple designs in the future.

Conditioning Hair is Important: My Hair Story + Tips to Shiny Hair

Let me brief you on this post. This will have 3 parts. The first part will be the story on how my hair lost its shine. The second part will be the importance of hair conditioner and will be followed by the remedies I did to regain my hair's shine.

WARNING: This post includes self praise. Forgive me for doing so. LOL

MY HAIR LOST ITS SHINE

When I was in high school I had long, straight, waist-length hair. It was cut in V-shape and only had few layers. My hair is one of my assets. I even got a recognition during my junior prom because of my hair. To cut it short, my hair was beautiful, long and shiny... up until my senior year.

During my senior year, I got more and more lazy with taking care of my hair. My parents used to buy me shampoo and conditioner whenever they go do the groceries. As I got lazy, I asked my parents to just buy me the shampoo with conditioner products in store. Yes, it was because I was lazy to condition my hair after shampoo-ing. They eventually got me Palmolive Naturals (Shampoo with Conditioner) Anti- Dandruff Therapy. The said product was actually good. It smells nice and got rid of my dandruff. Since it already had conditioner, my hair was actually kind of soft.

I have read somewhere that it's better if you don't shampoo your hair everyday. It's better if you just use conditioner (alone) from time to time. I'm not the expert in this area but I guess you can tell when to use your shampoo and when you can go alone with just conditioner. My hair strands are super fine and I can't go through the day without shampoo-ing my hair. It tends to get greasy in less than 24 hours. Thus, I shampoo my hair everyday and I use the product mentioned above for everyday use.

I didn't notice dramatic changes on my hair until my mother pointed out that my hair was loosing its shine. I was surprised and examined my hair closely (which I haven't done in a long time). It has indeed lost its shine! All because I was too lazy to condition my hair separately!

IMPORTANCE OF HAIR CONDITIONER (AND HOW IT WORKS)

One should use conditioner after shampoo-ing hair. Why? Let me tell you some nerd-ish facts about hair, shampoo and conditioner.

I want you to imagine one strand of hair as a straight line. Done? So let's discuss what happens to the hair when we shampoo it. Most shampoos are basic in nature meaning they have a high pH. This is because it has to rid the hair of dirt and oil build up. Now, when our hair meets shampoo, some parts of the hair tends to stick out. I can't find an exact illustration of how this would look like but supposing our hair is a straight line, just imagine that from side to side, there are flicks (fly away lines), much like roots branching out from one main line. Now when this happens, light that are directed on it cannot convey shine because there are little flicks that destroy the light concentration. This results to dull, non-shiny hair. Adding to this, imagine if you comb through hair that has flicks from side to side. It may damage it by enlarging the flicks that may cause split ends in the long run. Since we're not talking about split ends here, let me go back to our topic and discuss the conditioning parts. If you're concerned about split ends, just comment below and I might talk about split ends in the future. After all, I was also a victim of excessive split ends.

Anyway, back to what I was saying... Even if you run water on your hair after shampoo, the flicks would not go away. Now here's where conditioning of hair comes in. Most hair conditioners are, on the other hand, more acidic in nature. Meaning, it has a lower pH than shampoos. When base meets acid, it neutralizes. Right? The same thing happens when our shampoo-ed hair meets hair conditioner. It neutralizes the basic effects of shampoo and reverts our hair strands back to a straight line (no flicks) so that when light is directed upon it, light can be concentrated, resulting to shiny hair. Thus, conditioning after shampoo-ing is a MUST.

Now why did I get dull hair when in fact, I used shampoo with conditioner? Analyzing the facts I have stated above, shampoos with conditioner cannot bring about the same effect. True, these products may have lower pH than normal hair shampoos but since it's a combination of two products, it would most probably have both properties at the same time. I guess that's why my hair was still soft. And I also guess that's why it wasn't able to revert back my hair into a straight line (if you've read my nerd-ish fact above, I know you know what I meant). In conclusion, the product I have specified above did NOT cause me to have dull hair. It was my negligence. And yes, I learned the hard way. You still have to use conditioner after using products such as those.

GAINING BACK MY HAIR'S SHINE 

Given that my hair was already damaged, I could do nothing but change my habit and be a little more patient in separately using shampoo and conditioner. After all, it did not take me too long to do so.

To aid the process of giving my hair back its shine, I used this product called Citre Shine. It was, once again, suggested by my best friend and it did wonders for my damaged hair. Of course, I used both the shampoo AND conditioner. Citre Shine costs a little bit more than your usual advertised shampoos and conditioner. I bought it in Landmark Makati.

Now for those who are on a budget, if you have damaged your hair the same way that I did, I suggest that you use Johnson's Baby Shampoo (in yellow). Yes, no more tears! Haha! Baby shampoos apparently have lower pH than most shampoos. I don't know about other baby shampoos but I was able to use Johnson and Johnson partnered with Cream Silk conditioner and the results were great. I used it for a duration of 1-2 months right after Citre Shine corrected my problem.

Other people have mentioned that Shine Moist Henna Wax makes hair soft and shiny. Actually, I have a tub of it in Natural (meaning there's no color in it) and I used it a while ago but I don't exactly remember if it actually made my hair shiny. I do remember that my hair was remarkably soft. As for the shine, I would have to use it again and probably make a review on it in the future.

I hope this entry was helpful for you and I really hope you get the shiny hair that you've been yearning for.


(I bought this/these product/s with my own money and I am not getting paid for anything I say about it. Note that these are just my opinions and I do not guarantee that what I say would hold true in everyone's case.)