Stationery Haul { Artbox, Morning Glory & Others }

Being in Korea, there is little excuse not to explore the stationery options that stores provide. 

Personally, I absolutely hate the stationery you can get in Australia. The Western idea of "cute" is a far cry from what Asians consider "cute". Western style stationery usually comes in a variety of bright garish colours that attempt to blind you as you pull them out of your bag. The paper quality of these colourful notebooks are abysmal - they're grainy and thin. Also anything that is absolutely adorable is extremely overpriced (I'm looking at you, Kikki.K).

So imagine my delight when I come to Korea and cute, affordable stationery is everywhere!

ARTBOX & MORNING GLORY

I loved these two stores when I was young. There used to be one of each of these stores in Box Hill in Melbourne, but their products were so expensive! Due to their price point, they eventually closed down (Morning Glory about 6-7 years ago, and Artbox in 2012). However, they are still very popular in Korea. Their products are still a little bit more expensive than the Alpha Office stores but the things they sell are so cute!

Credit: Miss Loi

Artbox in Korea sells a variety of things from cosmetics, home products, clothes to stationery. Morning Glory on the other hand has fewer selections but has more Rilakkuma and Hello Kitty merchandise. 

At Artbox, I found Moleskine note books! I wanted a plain notebook because I want to improve my artistic skills. However, Moleskines are expensive and I couldn't really justify paying that price. Fortunately, I found something better!

A brand called Mimesis makes notebooks and how it works is that you choose the cover you want - colour and size - and choose the type of notebook you want inside. There are lined notebooks, plain and also diary type monthly notebooks. The paper is on the thinner side, but it's so smooth. 

Artbox also sells a variety of letter sets. I think they're completely adorable and plan on picking up a few to send back home. I love letters, especially love letters. I want to write a love letter for somebody this year!

At Morning Glory, I couldn't resist the temptation of these Rilakkuma Stamps! They really brought me back to my childhood. I used to own a Hello Kitty stamp kit and I loved it to pieces. Mind you, I never had such a huge selection - and I only had four! So to have this stamp kit brings out the child in me.

PENS

I love pens. I love colour. So it should be no surprise that I have since bought what I can only call a generous supply of pens since arriving in Seoul. 

My primary goal was to buy Muji Pens. I think the packaging of these pens are so sleek and they don't look childish. I have a thing for having sets of pens so that they match in my pencil case. I don't like to buy individual pens when you can buy them in a set. 

I also bought a box of Monami Plus Pen 3000. I used have a full set with all the colours and I really liked the felt tip. I definitely won't run out of these any time soon.

I love felt tip pens so much, I bought these too. They're dual ended - felt tip at one end, and a thick highlighter-esque marker at the other. I really like using the lighter colours to match with the Muji gel pens. 

In fact, I love them to the point that I bought a set of 36 more.

Crazy? Just a little. 

PEN SWATCHES.

Day 3: 명동 (Myeongdong) & Skincare Haul

Today the 6 of us went to 명동 (Myeongdong) which is one of the popular shopping districts of Seoul. It is absolutely littered with makeup stores, clothing stores etc and it's very much directed at the younger generation. 

I didn't take that many pictures today because I do plan on going back again (possibly tomorrow?) at night time.

Many of the people who work at Myeongdong speak both Korean and Japanese. Some stores (especially skincare/makeup stores) will even have staff who speak Chinese. The restaurant we went to had a Japanese worker so Saaya and Andy were able to converse with him freely. We even managed to get a small discount off our bill.

The store I was most interested in (aside from the makeup stores) was the SPAO store. Their clothes seem quite nice - good quality and reasonably priced. I may go back and pick up a few things.  And also SM Entertainment's Everysing. SPAO is endorsed heavily by SM artists and the top floor sells SM Artist merchandise. It was interesting rifling through it all, but I wouldn't buy anything there. 

I'm not a fan merchandise buying type of person. I think it's tacky when people pull out folders etc with celebrity faces.

For dinner, Q and I ate at the station's little Japanese style restaurant. It's super cheap and it's not bad! 

We went to a nearby market to buy some fruit because we haven't had any fruit since we've arrived. Fruit can be really expensive here and there isn't a lot of variety. We got something like 25 mandarins for 2000KRW (about $2AUD).

This is my current adaptor set up. The adaptor won't fit into the socket properly, so until I can find either a power board or an adaptor that fits, this is how I'm charging my devices.

My haul from today was mostly skincare. I was in Aritaum because I was interested in their eyeshadow. There was a specific one I wanted: Golden Khaki.

I remember cl2425 talking about it in one of her Korean haul videos so I wanted to try it out for myself. 

There was a buy one get one free event. When the sales assistant told me about it, I looked at her blankly because I didn't understand her. It hit Q after a little bit and I picked up a brown eyeshadow too.

I also picked up a few Laneige products. There was a promotion going on - spend 100,000KRW or more and receive 20% off. 

I was determined to pick up a new skincare routine, so I settled with these products. 

L-R: Multiberry Yogurt Pack, White Plus Renew Essence, Light Power Essential Skin Refiner and Multi Cleanser. 

I plan on picking up a few more skin care products but those can wait since I still have samples to use up.

I also picked up a new planner from Artbox. They have a huge variety of planners, notebooks, accessories and other random things. I wanted to buy the whole store, but I controlled myself and bought only the planner. 

The pens I bought from a stationery store near my house. 

I'm so tired... we walked around so much today.

PONY