5 to 7

2014

Directed by Victor Levin

Starring: Anton Yelchin, Bérénice Marlohe, Olivia Thirlby, Lambert Wilson, Frank Langella, Glenn Close and Eric Stoltz

This movie caught me somewhat by surprise, and I have noticed all good romance/romantic comedies do. I simply have very low expectations from this type of film due to the over saturation of crappy examples of the genre on the market. So I chose this since it sounded entertaining enough and liking Anton Yelchin's work I thought it would be an entertaining background film. 
Well, it turns out I liked it more than expected. It was much sweeter than I would like to admit for the subject matter. It also is fantastical enough to satisfy my needs, yet surprisingly realistic and down to earth. 

It isn't the most unique or innovative film in the world but it certainly does not follow your top 5 most popular romantic comedy tropes. I saw myself laughing and sighing during the first half of the film, getting into the characters and the story line. Then it got sad and I actually didn't see it coming at all. Maybe it is because I am a hopeless romantic and refuse to get out of my head. Or maybe I was just going with the story instead of analysing what is or what might be happening. 

Either way I ended having some feelings at the end of the movie (something that is not as common as I would like). I don't really have any complaints besides that the music got a tad cheesy in the end. 
I recommend this film to anyone who would like to see a decent and sweet romantic film without all the cheese and the too many stereotypes. 

I have been on a no-buy for ages now. There are a few reasons for that but the main one is that I just have a place full of products I need to try and there is no point in stocking up on more if I buy at a rate faster than I can use. I keep myself entertained (shopping wise) by buying stuff for other people (like Mother) and sometimes throwing in a cheap product to try or a few samples into their order. Also sometimes I need to restock on some items. I am always low on sunscreens, facial oils and the like.

Mother needed a sunscreen and I needed an emulsion so I thought this would be a great time to get a Japanese Cosmetics order going. While looking around the internet to see where I could find reasonably priced Japanese products that ship to Europe (surprisingly difficult I must say) I found Alphabeauty. I have know them for a while since they are an Ebay seller and have ordered from them before, but the thing is that their Ebay shop does not ship to Germany. Luckily they also have a separate online shop that does ship here. 
The shop is easy to browse through and has a good selection of products. They seem to stock most of the well known and popular Japanese cosmetics, so don't expect to find very unknown (in the Asian Beauty community outside of Japan) or hard to find items. 

The shipping is cheap too since it is only 4.50$ per order no matter how much you buy until it reaches 50$, then it is free.

The shopping process was hassle free, straightforward and easy. I emailed them a day later about my order and got an answer within 24 hours. The order was set to ship on Monday the 14th and a tracking number was provided for me per email.

It is a little hard to guess when the package actually arrived since there was so many holidays here and the post delayed my shipping notification. But I picked it up on the 4th of January which means it was there probably by the 30th, since internet told me that it was already there on the 2nd. I can only assume that shipping would go even faster if half of the time it took to get here wouldn't have been holidays. I am definitely happy with the shipping speed (especially considering that I have ordered some things before this that have still not arrived).

The package was inside an envelope instead of a box, which really doesn't bother me at all. 
After all, shipping is cheap and nothing got damaged. Everything is wrapped in bubble wrap instead of individually. The only thing that got a little broken was the Ceramide Gel outer packaging. 



The order came without samples which seems to be the norm when ordering from Hong Kong based shops. 

All in all I am quite happy with my order. The prices were not too heavily marked up, shipping is cheap and the package arrived in a timely manner. Considering how hard it is to get Japanese Cosmetics to Germany I am very happy to have discovered this shop.

I think I may have some kind of a curse when it comes to lighter lipsticks going on. I have been trying to find the perfect coral shade that doesn't lean orange or neon pink. I have tried a few Korean corals in 2015 yet all of them are so incredibly different than the promo pictures that I almost gave up hope. This lipstick is nowhere near as advertised but it comes closer than the others.

Thanks to a lovely friend who spent some time in Korea she actually went and swatched VDL lipsticks for me since I really wanted to give one a try. This color looked very pretty and coral in her swatches (done on white paper) but the price was a little high and after all the disappointments I went through before, I didn't want to take the plunge. In comes Alice from W2Beauty conveniently stocking all the VDL shades and offering me to pick one from her selection. I immediately got the 105 shade since I thought it was a great contender. 

The packaging looks really nice and sleek yet when I opened the lipstick I was quite surprised when I saw how pink and bright it looked. Upon swatching it on my skin I was quite sad. I don't know if it is me or if Koreans just can't stay away from the neon. Either way it is very very bright and much pinker than expected.

That is bright neon pink in my book!

I generally love very pigmented lipsticks (which this is) since my lips are so dark that many simply don't show up. The thing is that this is so bright and strong I look a little bit strange with a full application of it. That is of course my personal style and preference!
The lipstick is soft smooth and has a satin finish.
It is easy to apply and feels quite comfy. The wearing time is average and lasts as long as most satin type lipsticks do (about 3-5 hours). You dont actually need lipliner with this but if you want a crisper lipline than the one on my swatch pictures, a lipliner is recommended. 

The shape of the bullet makes it easy and precise to apply though.

I really think this lends itself for a more gradient style look. When I only slightly blotted the color onto my lips it looked really nice to be honest. It really freshened up my face and gave me a certain kind of glow. It is hard to see in the photos since it is winter time and the light is so low I couldn't even take pictures from the front without directly facing my window. But if you compare it to my usual brown purple lip color, the lipstick is indeed visible just in a very natural way. So I think this is well suited for people who either like the very bright neon lip look or for people who like the ultra natural glow lip look. It is really hard to achieve an in-between stage with this, but in the other two categories it excels. I am honestly very tempted to get one of their newer fall colors since the quality of this is quite nice and I seem to have better luck when it comes to darker Korean lipsticks.

Hard to see but the lipstick is slightly blotted on the middle of my lips.

Rating: 1.Blegh  2. Pff  3. Meh  4. Oohh  5. Awwyeah 6. Wooha


Available on W2Beauty
Available on Ebay

Get 5$ off your first order if you use this code 05734002 when you sign up.

Disclaimer: This product was sent to me for review purposes and contains affiliated links. That fact does not alter my review or opinion in any matter. For more information read my Disclaimer page. 

I don’t think it is a secret that I am very cheap/frugal/broke. 

If I would have more money I would probably still be cheap and frugal since I don’t see the sense of spending a lot of money on certain things. When it comes to good quality items it is absolutely possible to find them for a small price without having to resort to spending your monthly savings on a 400$ cream. I am not saying that all cheap cosmetics are great or that all really expensive ones are bad, but that price has little to do with quality sometimes.

There are also moments where we are biased when using products when we know the price beforehand, thinking they are better or worse than they are, due to the amount they cost.

In this case I swapped this product with Unfadewhatfades and had no idea how ridiculously cheap it was until about 6 months later. 

I believe she got this sleeping pack in a Memebox ages ago and we swapped some products and this one was among them.

A fermented sleeping pack in a tube is always something I am excited about so I was happy to give it a try.

It smells very faint like nondescript skincare, the scent being barely noticeable to be honest.

The texture is kind of like a gel but on the thicker side. It doesn't melt or slide around when you apply a blob to your skin but when spread it is very watery.

It is actually kind of a water drop sleeping pack. That means that when you spread it on your skin tiny water drops start forming. I have no idea what kind of magic that is but if anyone knows please feel free to inform me. I do admit the water drops can be felt more than seen but I spotted seen some on occasion.

The sleeping pack feels very fresh and smooth when it is applied. Which is quite wonderful when my skin is feeling super parched since the fresh feeling lasts quite a bit. The pack doesn't leave a noticeable film on my skin and sinks in within less than 4 minutes. 

Water drop action was not showing up on the photograph

I don't notice a big difference when I use this but I don't really with any sleeping pack I have used either. I really like how it feels on my skin though, and I think it is a wonderful product for dehydrated skin.

Sometimes when I feel really dry I either apply it again after the first layer disappeared into the depth of my skin or apply double the amount which means it takes longer to do so.

The crazy thing is that it is found for under three dollars on Testerkorea (currently on sale for 1,700 KRW about 1.50$) yet is one of my favorite sleeping packs to date.

This just shows me that it is often a good idea to rummage through the cheapest items in hopes of finding a good one which happens surprisingly often to be honest.

I definitely recommend people to give this a try if they are in need of a new Sleeping Pack since it is suitable for any skin type as well.

What is your best and favourite budget buy?

Ingredients: Here



Rating: 1.Blegh  2. Pff  3. Meh  4. Oohh  5. Awwyeah 6. Wooha

Available on Testerkorea