Laneige Water Sleeping Pack EX [Review]

Beautiful blue. 

Laneige (The Snow) in French, is a Korean brand by Amore Pacific. This may be surprising given that the medicinal blue, glassy packaging and the minimalist font do not look like the typically bubbly and colourful products from the East. Laneige is hardly a drugstore brand too- the product is priced above the average moisturiser, but I am convinced for good reason. On top of its elegant and beautiful packaging, it promises much to your skin, and delivers it wonderfully.

Description
This sleeping pack looks like mint coloured cream, feels like/ has the consistency of gel, and spreads out like water. It's nothing like I've ever used, as it is more like a watery gel which consistency adapts and morphs to suit your skin. It's really amazing yet odd, and the gimmicky term 'water science' Laneige employs suddenly sounds... incredibly credible.

But the effects the product gives are definitely more stunning than the cream itself.

How I felt 
With normal skin and no breakouts usually, I use this as my only moisturiser as I find it moisturising enough for my skin. It can even be applied under my eyes as it is not too heavy.

If you are used to a more diverse and disciplined routine unlike me, you should apply this only at the very last, to lock in all the goodness from your serums, essences and what not.

Although this is a sleeping pack, the gel is absorbed nearly immediately and has no residue at all. However, your skin WILL feel cooler, tighter and bouncier. While I have read reviews saying that they felt a 'film' over their skin, I did not feel that at all.

I went to sleep with none of the uncomfortable feeling of having a sleeping pack on, and woke up to dewy and pretty skin. A few splashes of cold tap water, and I was good to go.

One overlooked perk... 
One perk of having great skin in the morning, after the Laneige Water Sleeping Pack Ex soothes and moisturises it throughout the night, is that my make up glided on, looking fresher, and more vibrant than usual. I think this is a very important and extremely underrated benefit of this product! It was not through nature, or by virture of my application of my brow powder, that my eyebrows looked so much more bright and natural the next day. My brush glided in more even strokes and colour was applied onto my skin more easily. Thus, the dewyness of your skin and the vibrance of the makeup on your face can be enhanced with this sleeping pack, making you look younger and better.

Any side effects? 
I have not experienced pimples or milia with this product, although I have with other products from brands like Neutrogena and Bioessence. To be sure about your skin condition however, you should ideally have a sample and use it at least twice!

Buy this product if: 

1. You want better skin! Seriously, I haven't used a better sleeping pack/ moisturiser than this... 
2. You want to wake up to better skin. I haven't used a product that could just improve my skin quality so significantly overnight. 
3. You have a mid-range budget. While you do not want to purchase a drugstore product, you do not want to splurge on something expensive either. 

More tips for skincare from me: 

1. Don't listen to everything the experts say. Believe in your own skin, know how it reacts to different products. Do your own research. 
2. Have 'safe' products as a back up. You know that cheap and trusty moisturiser that doesn't break you out but doesn't do much for you either? Have those handy in case you break out from the jazzier, newer inventions. 
3. Drink water. Yes, it's that simple... Just keep drinking it. I try to have 2 litres a day.  

Do leave me a comment, if you have any more questions on this product. 

Drinks for thought

A strange craving for the fruity taste of wine and the kick in the stomach made me seek out a nonalcoholic drink that I can enjoy at night, without the loosening of the nerves it inevitably brings. After all, it is still possible to get the most out of your night with some motivation and a invigorating drink.

Hong Cho

I stumbled on the Hongcho drink at a Korean restaurant. It is a burgundy fruit concentrate in a plastic bottle, being both sweet and fragrant with berries giving that revitalising tangy taste. It is not as sour as one would believe vinegar to be, but the sourness is barely noticeable, even refreshing, like the actual taste of fresh kiwi. 

Dilute with 2 parts of water to 1 part of vinegar for the best taste and drink from any receptacle, be it goblets to feel regal or with your mineral water for health benefits, the most popular being weight loss. For more information on Hongcho, you can find out here. 

Magnolia Yoghurt Smoothie (Strawberry)

The other drink I enjoy occasionally is the Magnolia Yoghurt Smoothie (Strawberry)- a bottle of sticky pink goodness with bits of chewy Nata de Coco. It feels so natural to clutch the red plastic hand in my left hand, and just tilt my head back with the bottle in my right with half closed eyes. I can feel the cold, smooth strawberry sweetness trickling down my throat and into my stomach abused by copious amounts of acidic caffeine to keep me awake for mundane things. Moreover, my stomach growls a lot less after drinking it- it's like a cool elixir that helps to calm my stomach if I had too much acidic food, thus reducing discomfort and easing digestion.

I believe many opinions are divided over the merits of low fat yoghurt. Nonetheless, I need my probiotics, and my sweet fix. If you have a sweet tooth like me, and do not find the strawberry taste medicinal, you may like this. 

Lee So-Ra (이소라) : Eyelash Moon (눈썹달) Album

Lee So-ra, born 29 December 1969, debuted in 1995. Her  sixth album, Eyelash Moon (눈썹달), meaning Eyelash Moon won her the Korean Music Awards for Best Female Vocalist in 2005. She is best known for her Propose show, which showcased live performances by artistes and interviews.

She is less known outside of Korea compared to the likes of Kpop groups and other soloists. This can probably be attributed to the lack of exposure to the language as well as the fact that Kpop is a relatively recent phenomenon largely embraced by the youth.

 Her androgynous voice, highly feminine in its trembling emotionality yet gritty in its stoic and stable core, flows like velvet over an iron fist clutching the edge of her stool. Her songs of love, loss and heartbreak rise and fall over multiple octaves as she goes from her low, mezzo-soprano register to lilting, high and sustained notes that resonate without any nasality but with power and strength.

 The best example is her song from Eyelash Moon, 이제 그만 (Just Stop Now). The crescendo at the last stanza after the natural, steady cadence of the bridge emphasises the longing dredges of love, and the resulting resolve never to meet the man again:

 

사랑이란게 다 이런가요
잊었다 생각하면 더 생각나요
좋아했다면 우리 사랑했다면
다시는 마주치지 말길 바래요

Is love all like this?
If I think I've forgotten you, I think of you more.
If we cared for each other, if we had loved.
I hope we will never run into each other again.

Like a steady wave of the dark ocean at night, her majestic voice rises like a dignified monarch and falls not with a crash but unwaveringly, with restraint and sustained hope. To sum it up, the quote below from a better writer, Ask a Korean, encapsulates her "genius of singing"- having a vision of what he calls the 'fifth' end dimension, and being what truly means to be a singer:

"This is the point at which we see the true genius of singing. Singing is not merely following the commands of the composer. At its best, singing breathes life into what was no more than a clay doll formed by the composer. Singing turns what was two-dimensional into what is three-, four-, five-dimensional. It requires the ability to envision the end result, the fifth dimension that people cannot even imagine, and using your talent to get to that dimension. When this does happen, it is like magic -- it just happens. But instead of applauding, people simply think it is not hard to raise a rabbit in a hat and pull it out in front of the crowd. Lee Sora's influence is made even more meaningful by the fact that she shined in the K-pop desert populated by pretty corporate puppets. K-pop had two periods of nadir -- once during mid-1970s to early 1980s when the military dictatorship cracked down on "subversive" songs, and during late 1990s-early 2000s when the corporate groups almost choked out the scene. During the latter nadir when talentless pretty faces crowded the television screens, Lee Sora never lowered herself to vulgar sex appeal. Her voice alone gently reminded everyone in Korea what mattered in music."

From Ask a Korean (50 most influential kpop artists no. 37)

Ironically, in the homogenous sea of pretty idols and girlishly silly lyrics, Lee's handsome profile enhanced by her short cropped hair polishes the nobility of her voice to an elusive innocent purity that girl groups fail to produce, simply because she is uncontrived, deep, and in touch with her basic instincts to love, nurture and forget.

If listening to what we know Kpop to be is akin to tasting pink cotton candy at a fair offering all sorts of goodies, listening to her is like experiencing feminine strength in its emotive height. It goes from feeling the light salt of one's tears on the tip of one's tongue to tasting the deep saltiness of the sea in huge, airless gulps, and then resurfacing to gasp for the cool, night air before drifting, with closed eyes, into an unadulterated river of blue.

Listen to Lee So-Ra if 

• You enjoy good music in any language. 
• You enjoy listening to a deep, soulful voice.