The whole culture is beauty and youth obsessed, and it's a lot of fun to go into a beauty store here. Korea is on the forefront of beauty products, such as the BB cream that is just starting to be sold and marketed in the U.S. I decided to have fun with Korean beauty products too.
My obsession are the paper face masks (Things to do in Korea #6). I just stocked up on a bunch of them because it's ₩1,000 - 4,000 ($1 ~ ₩1,000) for one, while at Sephora, they sell equivalent masks for over $8. The masks are specialized for different beauty regiments, like skin whitening, hydrating, etc. The masks that I purchased have collagen, skin-tightening, and wrinkle-reducing formulas. Every other evenings, I religiously wash off the makeup, cover my face with the mask, and play Dope Wars for 15-20 minutes. Some of the masks give off a tingling sensation so I imagine the skin repairing itself while I practice the "buy low, sell high" concept in the underworld and get chased by Officer Hardass and his thugs for that huge cocaine deal. I'll report back in a month on whether my pores got smaller or if my skin stopped sagging.
Side note: Anyone want to be my business partner? I will just buy up a bunch of paper face masks and BB creams and you can be my U.S. distributor/retailer. I guarantee the profit margin will be amazing!
Beauty in Korea is also very much synonymous with plastic surgery. The practicing philosophy in Korea is that a student studies hard to get into a good college. Then the student gets plastic surgery before leaving college to get a good job and a good-looking partner (who also had plastic surgery). I just found out that there's an unwritten rule that you must submit your picture with resume submissions. Those who do not submit a picture have a low chance of getting through the first round of interviews. Uhhhh, does that sound like Monster.com or Match.com?Totally different from the meritocracy culture that I'm used to that tells us to embrace our individuality, intelligence, personality, and God-given looks.
Couple of my friends had kids right before I left the U.S., so I visited the babies and the first thing I do is comment on whose features the baby has. I can't play that game in Korea because there are some kids that look NOTHING like the mom or dad. Instead, I discreetly ask to see grandpa or grandma's picture. I bet you that parent is going to give the gift of plastic surgery to the kid for his/her 10th birthday, and not because the kid is ugly or anything. It's just the natural progression here to have the "perfect" features for a better life. I'm not even going to start on the meaning of "happiness."
One thing I observed was that no one hardly wears sunglasses. I wear mine all the time and notice people looking in my direction. Unfortunately, all those stares wasn't because they mistaked me for a kpop star or because they were attracted to my dazzling smile. Someone explained to me that sunglasses were associated with people who leave the plastic surgery clinic in bandages wrapped around their face and hiding behind huge sunglasses. Oh well, I'm not going to give up on the sunglass addiction, freckles, or my imperfect nose.
My obsession are the paper face masks (Things to do in Korea #6). I just stocked up on a bunch of them because it's ₩1,000 - 4,000 ($1 ~ ₩1,000) for one, while at Sephora, they sell equivalent masks for over $8. The masks are specialized for different beauty regiments, like skin whitening, hydrating, etc. The masks that I purchased have collagen, skin-tightening, and wrinkle-reducing formulas. Every other evenings, I religiously wash off the makeup, cover my face with the mask, and play Dope Wars for 15-20 minutes. Some of the masks give off a tingling sensation so I imagine the skin repairing itself while I practice the "buy low, sell high" concept in the underworld and get chased by Officer Hardass and his thugs for that huge cocaine deal. I'll report back in a month on whether my pores got smaller or if my skin stopped sagging.
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| My supply of various paper face masks |
Beauty in Korea is also very much synonymous with plastic surgery. The practicing philosophy in Korea is that a student studies hard to get into a good college. Then the student gets plastic surgery before leaving college to get a good job and a good-looking partner (who also had plastic surgery). I just found out that there's an unwritten rule that you must submit your picture with resume submissions. Those who do not submit a picture have a low chance of getting through the first round of interviews. Uhhhh, does that sound like Monster.com or Match.com?Totally different from the meritocracy culture that I'm used to that tells us to embrace our individuality, intelligence, personality, and God-given looks.
Couple of my friends had kids right before I left the U.S., so I visited the babies and the first thing I do is comment on whose features the baby has. I can't play that game in Korea because there are some kids that look NOTHING like the mom or dad. Instead, I discreetly ask to see grandpa or grandma's picture. I bet you that parent is going to give the gift of plastic surgery to the kid for his/her 10th birthday, and not because the kid is ugly or anything. It's just the natural progression here to have the "perfect" features for a better life. I'm not even going to start on the meaning of "happiness."
| One of my favorite ads for plastic surgery that I see on the Seoul Metro.: Before and after using emoticons. |
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| Another typical plastic surgery ad on Seoul Metro. |
Duh, of course we'd be your shady business partners. On that note, E and I finally found a water source by our house with beavers, so we can mail you vials of Giardia-laced "diet water" to peddle to the Koreans.
ReplyDeleteIt'll only sell well here if there's also a capsule form of ground up dried baby beaver fetuses. Good source of nutrition, they think.
ReplyDeletehttp://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/05/south-koreans-confiscated-pills-human-remains.html