This post marks the first monthly favourites of 2014, YAY~  This monthly favourites will pretty much be an accumulation of all the things that I've liked for the past couple of months so don't be surprised by the range of things that are included.

So let's get stuck into it.

Make-up/Skin Care:
Since I was overseas, I have started to wear some make-up on a somewhat daily basis - meaning whenever I am bothered, as I purchased so much since the make-up in Korea is relatively cheap and really good quality. Once I got back to Australia, I realised how much make-up I actually had after I decided that I would organise everything. I used to be be able to fit everything into one tiny little bag that I got from an Easter Show Showbag one year but now I need a bag that is 3 times the size to fit everything.

So, my daily everyday look is pretty much eyebrows, concealer and maybe a lippie and I have been loving these products for this.

For eyebrows: Missha 'Perfect Eyebrow Styler'



Firstly, I absolutely love the packaging of this. It's so adorable and the heart imprint on the actual lipstick itself just tops it off. What I really like this lipstick is that it is a really nice sheer lipstick but still gives a really nice colour pay off so you know it's there but not BAM! in your face. I'm not really into outrageous colours so having something nice and subtle but still with some colour is really good for me. Also, the lipstick smelling like jelly beans doesn't hurt it at all.

Eye-cream: Etude House 'Collagen Moistfull Firming Eye Cream'



I first got this product as a sample and absolutely loved it. I love how thick the cream is without making your under the eye area feel heavy while still moisturising the area. Since using the product, I have found that concealer does stay on better under my eye and lasts longer.

Youtube:
When I returned back from my trip, I was really starting to miss the Korean variety shows. That is when I stumbled on 'KBS World TV' on Youtube. They are the official KBS Youtube channel and offer English subtitles, which is absolutely awesome for fans, like me, who have very minimal understanding of Korean.

TV Show:
That segways into one of my favourite shows for the past couple of months, "The Return of Superman".


It's a really nice, cute show about 3 celebrity dads spending an entire 48 hours with their kids and how they deal with having the taking care of the kids by themselves as their wives are the main parenting person. Watching the show is really heartwarming and seeing their interactions make me really think about my childhood and how my parents would have dealt with thing.

Another show that I have been loving is "The Block: Fans vs. Faves".



Though the case is quite bulky, it's a really nice comfort to know that I have essentially another 80% or so worth of battery handy just in case my phone dies - which has happened quite a bit. I pretty much never leave the house without this case in my bag as it's an absolute life saver.

Another purchase from Korea that I am seriously loving is my diary.



It's relatively small compared to other diaries I have had in the past and I am loving the size of it. This year I vowed to get more organised and this diary is really assisting me in staying on top of all my school work and other commitments that pop up. I especially love the mini year overview that comes out as shown in the second photo since it's used as a bookmark too so I'm not flipping through the whole diary to get to the present week. Another great feature that I love is that at the start of every month, it has a general month overview where I can see where upcoming assessments are so I can get my butt moving.

That pretty much rounds out all of my favourites for March and the previous months. Sorry this post is super long - just like pretty much all of my other posts :( I have a really bad problem of writing long responses to everything. I will try and condense my writing somewhat hopefully by the end of the year.

Oh Japanese food, how I loved you. Thinking about it already gives me cravings ...

I am starting to seriously miss ramen, udon, tempura anything, takoyaki, tonkatsu, curry and sushi. So ... pretty much anything Japanese food related. The thing that really surprised me was how well the Japanese did Italian food and how cheaply too. The other thing that really surprised me was how relatively cheap the food was. Before travelling to Japan, I had people telling me that the food there is not cheap in terms of other Asian countries and that I should be expecting to pay the same price as I would in Australia. However, upon arriving, I didn't really find the food to be that expensive in terms of pricing compared to Korea. If I was paying for food that was about the same price as Australia, I would be getting more for my buck so I wasn't especially unhappy about that.

My memorable restaurants in Japan had to include this Shibuya sushi restaurant where everything was done via computers. So you would be seated and a touchscreen is pretty much in front of your face. You pretty much do everything from that touchscreen - order food, order drinks and get your bill. When you order a plate of sushi, there are conveyor belts that then bring the food to you - like directly in front of you, and all you have to do is grab it off the belt and enjoy. Each plate of usually ranged from 126 - 350 yen from what I remember. So roughly like $1.50 - $4 for each plate of sushi and it wasn't bad sushi by any means.



Also from Shibuya was another restaurant called '35 Step Bistro'. I found the restaurant via tripadvisor and the restaurant is named '35 Steps Bistro' since you have to go down 35 steps before reaching the restaurant. The restaurant was somewhat hard to find but man was the food good :9. So good especially the grilled mackerel. If you happen to go to this restaurant in Japan, you have to get the grilled mackerel. Your experience won't be the same without it, especially when they torch the fish right in front of you.



Another memorable restaurant was 'Watami'. It was so good that we went back twice. We just enjoyed everything from their menu but I especially loved their yakisoba. It had such a nice sauce that coated the noodles and everything on the plate just complimented each other. I also really liked the gyoza and thin-crust pizzas off their menu. Gahhh, the drooling at the moment.



The last really memorable restaurant was a BBQ restaurant on Doutonbori Street. The meat ... oh the meat. So beautifully marinated and the sauces that went along with them was heavenly. Each type of meat had a different sauce to go along with it and it was utterly heaven. Our waitress even taught us where the meats should go on the grill plate for the best results. Man, I seriously want some KBBQ or JBBQ, as I have now termed it after that restaurant experience. The main difference that I found with JBBQ compared to KBBQ is how thinly the meat is sliced up but it is still able to retain its moisture so when you place it on your tongue, it just melts in your mouth.




Well, that pretty much finishes off all the blog posts about my trip to Korea and Japan. I can't believe that this trip took up about the better half of 2 months to get out but I guess it's a good thing because nothing much has been happening since.

As you can tell with this post, I opted not to post photos from Osaka Castle 3D Illumination Festival just because I thought it would be boring and be sort of pointless.

So with that being said, I hoped you enjoyed the hordes of food photos and until next time, stay happy :)