C-Drama Review: One and Only

 

Ok guys, so I had really high hopes for this drama. Not only was it recommended to me by my dad (my dad watches Chinese dramas all day everyday now that he's retired so I rely on a lot of his recommendations since he knows what type of Chinese dramas I like!), but it was actually pitched to me as being similar to Goodbye My Princess which I absolutely LOVED! Like I have never watched a drama that I enjoyed so much I wanted to watch it all over again until I watched Goodbye My Princess. It was also pitched to me as something "even more tragic than Goodbye My Princess" so I was like WHAT? more tragic? How? It's also got really high ratings on MDL so I thought, heck, this must be something truly amazing.

This drama was disappointing. I'm actually sad to say that it didn't meet my expectations at all. 

I love a romance drama, throw in some tragedy and actual political drama into the mix and I'm sold. This drama was supposed to be romance but ????? Where was the romance? Where was the confession, hugging, kissing scenes?? Literally I struggled through about 10 episodes of this drama thinking ok, the romance is coming, the romance is coming, I can feel it. 24 episodes later and I feel kind of robbed to say the least. 

*****As always... spoilers ahead*****

This story is about a girl named Shiyi (FL) who becomes the disciple of Jr Prince Nancheng (ML - who is the King's uncle supposedly), he's kind of like a monk character but without the shaved head. By that I mean, back in the day he swore to never get married and never have kids because he wanted to show that he wasn't interested in becoming king. Fair enough. You can already tell that his destiny with Shiyi was doomed from day one (this happens before he even met Shiyi). Fast forward, Shiyi becomes his disciple and eventually close confidant, the two of them strike up some sort of close but I-can't-have-you-nor-should-I-be-with-you type of relationship. Now this is basically the same shit for about 15-18 episodes of this 24 episode epic, the two are close but are never an item. Even more so, there's a political aspect to this story in which Shiyi is actually engaged to the Crown Prince as part of some old agreement between the king and Shiyi's mother to better their family relations with the royal family. The engagement gets called off at some point but the Crown Prince is obsessed with her and strikes up some sort of dirty bargain to get re-engaged to her again later in the series. Shiyi gets shipped off to the royal household and basically becomes prisoner for the Crown Prince who is basically evil and prevents anyone seeing Shiyi. Whilst Shiyi is cut off from all outside communications, the Crown Prince partners with his wife's evil father and they basically trap Prince Nancheng and kill him, this news is barred from Shiyi for about 2 episodes until she eventually finds out from her mother and then - kills herself on her wedding day. 

In terms of tragedy factor, I felt the plot was weak, I personally felt nothing for the relationship between Prince Nancheng and Shiyi, by the time he was murdered by his nephew, I still felt nothing. I actually felt the relationship was very one sided by Shiyi, you could tell she was obsessed with her "master" but I never seemed to get anything back from Prince Nancheng, apart from the way he looks at her. I honestly wasn't there for this relationship from beginning to end and I just felt it was lacking some sort of passion. 

In terms of the political plot, again that was weak af, like the Empress Dowager was an evil bitch from the beginning and she basically wanted to rule with a puppet king, so you get this whole drama of her enthroning these children as king so she could control them and therefore control the court for about 75% of the series. But then obviously these kids grow up and then she gets betrayed and then gets her revenge. The woman even kills her own son. This typical Empress Dowager plot is kind of dry and by the time she gets overthrown by Prince Nancheng and gets sent away to become a nun is kind of the end for her, until she gets killed by some other insignificant villain. Like she tries to recycle the same evil idea twice which makes this even more damning in my books. Then there's the capture and murder of Prince Nancheng, like where did this idea even develop from, all that was mentioned was "you should get rid of him" to the Crown Prince and then next thing you know, it's just so easily executed, Prince Nancheng being the smart, courageous, loyal general that he is, gets trapped and captured then murdered so easily in the space of about 1 episode. I mean...

Then there's the ending, Shiyi's death, her devastation at the thought of marrying her lover's murderer was just too much for her so on her wedding day she climbs up to the top of the building and then jumps off. In the most-classic-not-classic way, the Crown Prince (basically Emperor) is about 0.5 seconds too late to save her from jumping and she dies. She dies in the most non-elaborate way either, no blood, just a soft plop onto the ground.

One thing I will say for anyone reading this is that if you like something different in terms of a romance and if you like subtle romances then you might enjoy this. One other thing is that this drama actually has a part 2 called Forever and Ever (it's currently airing now) and it's basically Prince Nancheng and Shiyi in the present day and from what I heard, it's a lot less tragic as in it's basically the happy ending for both of them but in another life. I quite like how the drama ended where before she died, she hoped that they would meet in another life and be able to get married, then the ending scene pans to this board of writing that Shiyi wrote that was incomplete, I quite liked how that signified that their story is not yet finished and that there would be a part 2 - I found that quite artistic and well done. 

Overall, this drama scored very highly on MDL and is quite popular in China from what I heard, I wouldn't say that this drama was my cup of tea at all. I prefer non-subtle romances, lots of flirting, the confessions, the hugs, the kisses LOL so maybe this is vastly different to what I expected and what I am used to enjoying. 

I would give this drama a 6/10 and not sure if I would watch part 2 of this story in Forever and Ever but maybe I will and perhaps it will change my opinion on One and Only. 

C-Drama Review: Legend of Dugu

It's like a new c-drama each week for me recently because I've been so bored during lockdown and my new job doesn't start until next week. Long story short, I've had a break from working in general in start of December so I've been powering through dramas LOL.

If you're familiar with many historical c-dramas, Legend of Dugu is one of those chasing-after-the-throne-plot dramas. In a nutshell, it's about a family with the Dugu name having a prophecy that they will one day rule the world, it's about wives of the Dugu family helping their husbands get the throne but peppered with lots of complicated romances and couples that are in love with one another at the beginning of the drama, never getting the chance to actually end up with each other due to fate.

It's actually based on real historical events, the Dugu sisters were real and it's set in the times of the Northern and Southern dynasties. I actually love dramas like this that are based on true historical events, I end up googling so much afterwards and end up down a rabbit hole understanding what happened to everyone according to historical records #nerd.

Anyway, my thoughts on the drama...

*MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD*

The plot was great, I love especially how the drama plays out everyone's characters from when they were young to when they're older, when they have kids etc and then you see some of the lives of the kids too and how they play into the overall plot. It had a really good balance of serious power struggles to sweet romances.

The story was super heavy at the beginning on the relationship and power struggle between Yuwen Yu, Yuwen Hu and Dugu Banrou and their crazy love triangle. Then the story switches to focus on the relationship (less power struggle, more romantic rivalry) between Yuwen Yong, Yang Jian and Dugu Jialuo. In between you have the trouble-maker middle sister Dugu Mantou causing all kinds of havoc because she's just jealous of just about everyone and everything in this entire drama. Then towards the end it's more focused on power and the new emperor rather than any kind of romance.

I must admit although I enjoyed this drama, there were some parts that I just couldn't let go of in terms of how ridiculous it was portrayed, maybe in real historical records, it happened like this, I don't know but to me, it was just pure ridiculousness. I'm going to list out areas where I thought the story was really stupid all based on my opinion of course but I'm sure I'm not the only one...

*MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*

Mantou being suddenly pregnant even though her relationship with her husband fell bad many years ago - seriously, I think this has to be the dumbest part of the plot. To have a baby, you need to have sex, if you’ve fallen out badly with your husband for years, how did this baby get conceived? And no, Mantou was definitely not romantically linked with anyone else in this drama at this point that we were made aware of. I actually thought her aunt was trolling her when she told her she’s pregnant to keep her in check but it turns out this Mantou popped out twins. What’s even more annoying is that she had girl boy twins and the girl has now disappeared from the drama entirely as if she only had the boy. What did she do? Chuck the girl twin away in a river? Boil her and eat her? Aliens abducted her? That scene wasn’t meant to happen?

Yuwen Hu’s death - OK this one probably annoyed me as much as Mantou’s pregnancy. This guy died way too simply and early on for someone that is the main antagonist of the drama, with supposedly high ambitions. He fell for Yuwen Yong’s trap completely and easily for someone that’s supposed to be cunning and then somehow got killed by arrows and his Ge Shu was also killed when he went to save him. This plot / scene was no red wedding scene (GoT reference to one of the craziest assassination scenes in TV history) but it was just so... non-dramatic. Let me tell you that trap was no elaborate trap either, it was just him taking him to see his mother to read out some poem and then he gets stabbed by Yuwen Yong, then shot to pieces. Now I get that he was upset and still a bit stunned to learn that the daughter he had with Banrou was still alive but yeah, makes so sense how someone that has been presented as so clever and cunning can be taken out like that.

Yang Jian being forever 30 years old - now this one, I’m hoping is just a bad translation. If I went back to really listen to it maybe I could work it out, but Yang Jian claimed he was 30 years old before the time skip then in episode 50, then the time skip happened where we see Lihua and the other kids grow up and there’s this scene where Yang Jian comes back from fighting Qi and Yuwen Yong wanted to promote him to Pillar of State and he tries to reject it saying he’s just 30 years old LOL. I’m hoping it meant 40 because if he’s still 30, he must have been a father at 15 or something.

...and this one just because I hate Dugu Mantou SO MUCH

Mantou always making a reappearance like some bad rash - now this woman... I have no words, she just keeps coming back time and time again and never lets go of her revenge even though she almost got made into a nun at one point. She fails every single time she tries to destroy other people because someone catches her out but still tries to harm Jialuo and Yang Jian and others EVERY DAMN TIME. Honestly, this woman doesn't die until the last 5 minutes of the final episode LOL. If you thought Yuwen Hu was the main villain, think again.

Overall, I can safely say that I enjoyed this drama. I didn't love it when I compare it to Love and Redemption but I definitely found it interesting to learn about the whole Dugu prophecy and how it turned these people crazy back in the day with the desire to rule the world. The power struggles were mostly interesting to watch, the cast were perfect for their roles, production value was pretty decent for a Chinese drama, costumes and scenery were stunning, Hu Bing Qing needs to be in more dramas because she is just so beautiful.

I think I'd give this drama a 7.5/10, enjoyable and worth watching but not the best c-drama I've seen.

C-Drama Review: The Romance of The Tiger and Rose

 

Okay so, I wasn't actually planning on writing a review on this drama because I didn't find myself enjoying this drama much towards the middle. BUT - towards the end, I ended up loving this drama, no wait, I ended up loving Qian Qian and Han Shuo.

This drama is vastly different to all other c-dramas I've seen before, although I haven't reviewed many on here in comparison to k-dramas, the ones I usually watch are more serious, political, revenge, romance that builds over the course of 60 episodes. You don't see the romance in full until episode like 30-40, I have always enjoyed those slow burners with many twists and turns in the middle. Now with TROTTAR (will be calling this drama this for short), this drama is only 24 episodes, the pacing is super quick, romance develops super quickly, the plot is not complicated at all to understand, the characters are limited etc. I could go on. 

Like I said, the plot is not complicated at all, it's a classic time-travel drama that is mostly set in a historical setting. Chen Xiao Qian is the protagonist and the first episode she's introduced as a script writer in the modern day that takes a nap and then gets transported into her script. The story revolves around her trying to control the characters in her script to finish the story and get back to her own time but obviously she ends up falling in love with male lead (who she's actually scripted for him to fall in love with her older sister). Aside from this, there's also another plot in this where the ML is actually not a good person and is actually plotting to take over her city, so basically it's supposed to be a story of betrayal written by Xiao Qian. 

The setting of the historical story is quite interesting, it's based on a fictional city of Huayuan ruled by females only, so it's like a role reversal of a traditional king ruled city where females are wives that listen to their husbands. All the ministers, scholars, high court roles are assumed by females whereas males are not allowed to study or assume such roles, they're the ones that marry into female families and serve their wives. Whereas Xuanhu - where the male lead is from, is a traditional king ruled city so naturally the 2 cities clash. The actual plot of the story written by Xiao Qian is that the male lead, Han Shuo marries into Huayuan but has a secret plot to take over the city for Xuanhu. 

I liked the city of Huayuan and that it makes fun of the roles of women and men back in the day, but I did find the plot a little boring and stale sadly, you know the plot right from the start because Xiao Qian / Qian Qian is trying to control everything and therefore there are no twists and turns as such. The only twists and turns are events that do not go to plan according to her boring story which again, are not twists and turns that make you any more surprised than before. 

HOWEVER, the part of the plot that I really loved was any scene that involved Han Shuo and Qian Qian, he arrives in Huayuan as a pompous, arrogant, scheming person but leaves Huayuan (with Qian Qian) as an obedient, loving, would-do-anything-for husband. In between, you see so many comedic moments between the two from them bickering over misunderstandings to them making up in the sweetest way possible. The chemistry between the two is so enjoyable to watch. 

Onto a bit about the actors and their portrayal of their characters. 

Zhao Lu Si plays Xiao Qian / Qian Qian, she's in quite a few of these historical-comedy roles and you can really see why she was chosen for this role. She fits this kind of character perfectly. I initially saw her in Oh My Emperor! but ended up dropping the drama after a few episodes because I couldn't stand how cheesy the acting was and how ludicrous the characters were. But watching her in this, is like night and day, although this came out before TROTTAR, I will definitely be watching Love Better than Immortality at some point.

Ding Yu Xi plays Han Shuo, it's the first time I've seen him in a drama and boyyy was he perfect for the role as well! Han Shuo is not a one dimensional character as there is a part in the drama where he starts to play a more evil character, pretending not to care for Qian Qian. He plays arrogance very well and is super cute when he pretends he's not bothered by something Qian Qian has done or is pretending to be mad at her. My favourite scenes are when he teases Qian Qian for his own enjoyment and also when he acts a bit like a tsundere. 

Qian Qian's sisters Chu Chu and Yuan Yuan are worth a mention too, Chu Chu is portrayed as the jealous second sister who is after the position of power in Huayuan as well as the one that is supposed to end up with Han Shuo in the original story. She does end up liking him when Qian Qian enters the story and tries to get the position of City Master AND Qian Qian's man. I won't spoil it for those that haven't seen this drama but her character is probably most complex in this drama and she's ambitious and power hungry. Yuan Yuan is their oldest sister who has a disability where she can't walk so she's in a wheelchair, she has a close relationship with Qian Qian and also has a love interest with Su Mu who is a musician in Huayuan - their relationship is simple and not really worth mentioning much. 

I have to mention Qian Qian and Han Shuo's personal assistants Zi Ru and Bai Ji - these two have their funny bickering moments too when they're trying to protect their masters. 

Overall, I think this drama is worth watching if you're like me, after having watched too many serious c-dramas and now after something a bit more light hearted, not too bothered about it not having a complex plot line and if you don't mind plot holes as well. Mainly, if you're after something light, comedic with some sweet romance and tons of chemistry between the ML and FL throughout then this is a great drama to watch!

C-Drama Review: Love and Redemption

I think this must be my first time writing a review on a C-Drama! It's not the first one I've seen but I felt compelled to write one about Love and Redemption because oh I loved this drama SO much, it was an emotional rollercoaster.

Where to start? Without ruining the story for those that haven't seen this or heard about it, in summary it's about 2 people that fall in love in the mortal world, the 2 are cultivators from different sects, however, along the way, the 2 sects eventually go against each other for reasons that are revealed along the way. The conflicts lead to lots of secrets being uncovered as it makes the 2 leads of the story dig deep into their own past and memories to find out about their "past lives". If you're unfamiliar with terminology used in these kinds of Chinese dramas, I would highly recommend this site here, it definitely helped me a lot in understanding Xianxia / Wuxia dramas as different words are thrown around a lot. 

So onto the review itself... *MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD* 

Plot 

This was one the best characteristics of this drama, the plot was just amazing, it was executed really well from start to finish. This drama made me feel emotions for the 2 leads of the story. I really felt how conflicted the characters were when they were forced to make decisions. From Xuanji finding her 6 senses along the way to falling in love with Sifeng to then becoming his enemy for the sake of love. The writer of this drama really takes you in for a ride.

The story starts off with Xuanji meeting Sifeng quite early on actually, it's not one of those dramas where you have to wait until episode 20-something until the 2 main leads fall in love, nope, this one is almost love at first sight which was refreshing to see, you really do get 50+ episodes of romance in this drama. 

There's a few plots in this drama and each one brought different emotions to me, Xuanji is introduced at first as the ditzy female lead who was born without her senses (you find out why later), she meets Sifeng from Lize Palace who becomes her friend and helps her find her six senses again. Then the story develops deeper where Sifeng finds himself falling in love with Xuanji but is not allowed to fall in love (it's a sect rule) so tries to keep his distance from Xuanji but Xuanji is so relentless even though she has no clue what love even is - you get a few episodes of her constantly chasing him around not knowing that she actually loves him too, it's super cute to watch. Then the story develops even more when secrets are unveiled about their true identities and that's really when the story goes from 0-100, I'm not going to spoil what happens but the last 15 episodes had me in tears. 

Only thing I didn't like about this drama was that Sifeng is constantly hurt because of Xuanji, yes, it's all for love and because he loves her so much, he's willing to sacrifice himself but almost every episode or every other episode he is either struck or stabbed or spitting blood because of something. By the end he's even so close to dying, it just breaks my heart every time to see a man so loyal, so in love - we all need a Sifeng in our lives. 

Characters

Oh boy where do I even start with this? Sifeng and Xuanji were excellently portrayed by Cheng Yi and Crystal Yuan. The acting was so amazing that I was surprised these 2 haven't been in bigger projects previously. I heard that it was this drama that made them super popular in China and damn right they deserve it! The chemistry between the 2 in this drama made it what it is. At first glance I wasn't too sure about them but they really portrayed character development really well, 

Crystal Yuan's role as Xuanji was stellar - when you pick apart the character of Xuanji, you have her ditzy self at the beginning, then you have the her when she regains her senses and falls in love, then you also have the cold, heartless God of War persona as well, so many different facets of a personality in this one character. 

Cheng Yi as Sifeng was equally amazing - he doesn't quite have as many different personalities to portray but just him at the beginning being cold under his mask because he's not supposed to fall in love, then becoming friends with Xuanji, Ling Long and Min Yan realising what true friendship is. Then you have later on when he becomes leader of Lize Palace pretending to be evil because he doesn't want to hurt Xuanji, that was amazing. 

More characters to mention that I absolutely loved - Ling Long is Xuanji's twin sister, the sisterhood between them was so endearing to watch also Ling Long as a character throughout the drama, she gets captured by the obsessive Wu Tong and has to play a different character at that point as well. There was also the Flying Snake (Teng She) played by Bai Shu - hands down my favourite character besides the 2 main leads, Bai Shu portrayed the arrogant, selfish, gluttonous, spoilt Flying Snake so well, he hates Xuanji to begin with as she forces him to become her spiritual beast so he becomes under her control but he eventually becomes friends with her and really cares for her deep down, so much that he even goes against the heavens for her. If I had to describe him in one word it would be - tsundere. 

Although I hated this man, I have to mention Wu Tong was an ass of a character but also one hell of a character, he was obviously evil as I hate him so much but I really felt sorry for him at the end, this man is obsessed with Ling Long right from the beginning when he was part of his sect, even when he turned evil and joined Sky Hall, he is still obsessed with Ling Long. What really got me was when he was about to drag Ling Long into the black hole (yes there is a proper name for this but I forgot what it was) and he just couldn't bear to so he pushed her away and saved her. Although he was obsessed, he was just a man that was in love with her in the wrong way, he captured her and tried to force her to be his - it was when he said he realised that he didn't want revenge all this time, he just wanted Ling Long to look at him where all my hatred for this character fell away. Another evil guy I hated was Hao Chen / Bailing - gosh he was toxic, he pretends to be good to Xuanji as her senior in the mortal world when really he is the one that caused all this mess. I know at the end that his intentions were to protect but how wrong he was, I truly hated this guy.

I have to say though, everyone casted in this drama was amazing - there's just too many to list and talk about individually. 

Sound/Music

I never usually pay attention to soundtracks in Chinese dramas because they kinda sound similar but I absolutely adored the music in this. You have the sweet romance tunes come out when there is one of those cheesy love scenes but you also have this epic music (the one from the opening) when Xuanji activates her God of War powers and fights everything. I don't know the name of these songs but they fit the drama so well. 

*MAJOR SPOILERS*

In summary, this drama was AMAZING, I loved all 59 episodes of it. I was hooked right from the beginning, I was addicted to the relationship between Sifeng and Xuanji, I felt all kinds of emotions when they fell in love, when Xuanji actually realised that yes she does love Sifeng, when there was misunderstandings between the 2 because of people like Wu Tong and Bailing, when Rahu Ketu was revived and there was conflict between Xuanji and him internally, when Sifeng sacrifices himself in the heavens to stop the furnace being destroyed all because he doesn't want to forget all the memories he had with Xuanji, when Rahu Ketu finally realised that he doesn't want to destroy everything for revenge and split himself and Xuanji again, giving half of his heart to revive Sifeng, when Xuanji spent everyday with Sifeng's comatose body at the end for him to finally awaken and the marriage scene. Oh my god, perfect ending. 

One final thing worth noting about this drama - it doesn't leave you with a sense of confusion at the end. A lot of Chinese dramas tend to leave the endings "open ended" as in they play a scene that seems to suggest an ending but they let the audience interpret for themselves what happened. This one doesn't and concludes perfectly, giving us a happy ending. I heard there's going to a season 2 but no idea how there is going to be a season 2 with the same characters, I feel if there is going to be one, it'll be with different characters. 

Would highly recommend watching this one if you haven't already or you're new to Chinese dramas, it definitely didn't disappoint.

K-Drama Mid-Review: Ruler: Master of the Mask

My goodness. I've been looking for a new period drama to watch for AGES that I decided to give this one a go. It's currently ongoing and I've caught up (as of today) to the 20 episodes that have already aired. When I first saw this drama was going to be 40 episodes I was a bit put off by the length but then quickly realised that each episode was only 30~ minutes long. So this is basically a mid-point review as to what I think the drama is like, where I think it's headed and overall so-far impressions of it. 

Without having to go into too much detail (and trying to be as spoiler-less for this part as much as poss), this drama is about a prince fighting against an evil group of people that are trying to control the country and the throne. At the same time there's also a romance between the prince and a noble girl. Of course, Yoo Seung Ho (Remember: War of the Son, Warrior Baek Dong-Soo) plays the role of the prince and Kim So Hyun (Goblin, Let's Fight Ghost & (special mention) The Moon that Embraces the Sun) plays the role of the girl the prince is involved with. 

SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS

Reading the synopsis and then watching 20 episodes of this drama, there is just soooooo much more to the story than just that. If you're reading the synopsis and thinking "oh this sounds boring", please, do watch the first 2-3 episodes of this drama. It will literally suck you in. 

OK, so far we know that:

• The prince's family have all been murdered by the evil peeps
• The prince's friend (arguably his bestie) has ended up on the throne as a "puppet king" being controlled by the evil group rather than him 
• The prince has therefore been living outside of the palace as a commoner and then becomes some master trader
• The prince has fallen in love with the daughter of a minister that basically died because of him, at this point she doesn't know the prince is actually the prince
• The girl has her own revenge that she's following through with and has ended up in the palace as a court lady to carry out these plans (and has subsequently ended things with the prince)
• The queen mother has hidden agendas to dethrone the king (when does the queen mother not have hidden agendas?) 
• The evil group's leader's granddaughter is also in love with the prince and wants to save him and make him hers 
• The prince has finally met with his friend who is currently the king and the king has realised that him and the prince are in love with the same girl, he's now turned from prince's bestie to his rival

So freaking much has happened that I'm so excited to see how the story resolves in the next 20 episodes. I'm anticipating that the prince will continue planting seeds in the palace who are really his people and then eventually take back his throne. The cliffhanger in episode 20 was interesting, he's presented with 2 options - use the army and take back the throne now, or continue waiting patiently. The preview for the next episode is also interesting, the rivalry between the prince and the king start surfacing and they're both fighting over Ga Eun. Then there's also the granddaughter who's trying to take over the evil group to make the prince like her, haven't seen much of her recently but she seems pretty smart in an evil way?

Also, I don't know why but I have this impending sense of doom feeling that the puppet king / prince's best friend will end up dying by the end in all of this. I honestly have the most feels for him right now because he has literally been made a prisoner because he got involved with the prince. He's not allowed to go visit his family (his poor mother probably thinks he's dead), his best friend also likes the same girl he's liked for so long, he has to wear that hideous mask all day long, he has no power or authority even though he's the king etc. This guy needs a break.

I'm really enjoying this drama at the moment and am pretty sad I've caught up already. It's going to be hard trying to watch this week by week. There's the main plot as well as this love square, plenty of room for many plot twists. 

Also, Yoo Seung Ho is an amazing period drama actor. I think he's just an amazing actor, the only dramas I've seen him in are the ones where he plays these tragic character roles though :< I wasn't too sure about Kim So Hyun playing the main female lead but she's actually growing on me, I remember her too much from The Moon that Embraces the Sun when she was that evil little girl who wanted to become the queen... she was like what? 10 years old when she was in that?

Anyhoo, can't wait for episode 21!

Review: Silisponge

Before I begin, no matter what happens, no matter what crazy inventions come out this year, the silisponge is definitely my product of the year. It's literally changed my life. No really. 

The sili-what?

The silisponge is a silicone make up sponge basically. I wouldn't actually call it a sponge as it doesn't soak up any product. It's cheaply made and is just wonderful at applying and blending make up. I bought this bad boy towards the beginning of the year and haven't gone back to applying my make using brushes or my fingers. 

What? Where? How?

I bought my silisponge off eBay. It's not the official silisponge but I thought to myself, how fake or different can a silicone sponge be? The one I received was amazing quality. I have heard there are some really bad dupes out there though that break really easily or irriates skin, but mine has been great so far! They seem to come in a variety of shapes and sizes - I've opted for the tear shaped one rather than the long rectagular-ish one just because I find the shape suits how I apply make up more. 

Pros

• It's extremely easy to clean in comparison to a beauty sponge or brush, literally takes less than 2 minutes with some gentle hand soap or baby shampoo and it's good as new again
• Doesn't soak up product meaning your foundation bottle will last longer, a little really goes a long way using this
• Great rounded shapes, helps blend make up into creases and corners
• As it's not a sponge, it won't retain bacteria or pick up a lot of dust / dead skin cells etc
• Comes in a variety of shapes and colours / designs
• Super cheap to replace if it rips 
• Pretty durable (just keep it away from tweezers etc) 

Cons

• Has a tendency to smear make up rather than blend evenly - I find this depends on what make up you're applying with it, whilst it's great for applying BB cream (this is what I use it for on a daily basis) or creamier foundations, it's not so great at applying foundations that are more matte / dry in texture 
• Not as multipurpose as a beauty blender - you can't really use this product for compact powders for example 
• Can be easily ripped / perforated by tweezers - I keep mine in a little pouch inside my make up bag as I also have tweezers floating around in there
• Takes a bit of practice or getting used to once you first use it, it's not the easiest of make up tools to use in comparison to the beauty blender or standard foundation brushes

Overall, despite the cons, I'm super happy with my silisponge. As I use BB cream on a daily basis, it's great for serving the purpose of applying it. I'm getting less spots as my silisponge is cleaned everyday (as it's so easy to clean) and it's great at blending my BB cream to give me that dewy look. However, as the foundation I used is more of a dry texture (I've been using Kill Cover Foundation), I still find using my beauty blender better than the silisponge for now. 

Review: CLIO Kill Cover Highest Wear Foundation

I've been hunting for a new foundation for a loooong time and came across this foundation from CLIO called Kill Cover. CLIO is a Korean cosmetics brand and have a wide range of make up for sale, you can find their full range here. 

This foundation comes in 6 supposed shades but I've only ever seen 3 of these shades being sold - Lingerie (2-BP), Linen (3-BY) and Ginger (4-BO), so yeah, not much choice. They're all really light shades so in terms of having a variety to suit skin shades is a bit disappointing. Lingerie is described as a rose beige, Linen is a yellow-toned natural beige and Ginger is a yellow-toned beige again but slightly darker than Linen with a bit of red in it. 

I decided to go for Linen as my skin tone is pretty neutral and on the yellow side and here's what I think:

Consistency

The consistency of this foundation is slightly more watery than other foundations, it applies well on the skin and doesn't leave a cakey finish.

Coverage

If you're looking for a foundation with high coverage, this isn't the foundation for you. I find this foundation to be a light-medium coverage. I had a couple of pimple scars and fresh pimples that didn't really cover up after applying this foundation. It makes pimple-less skin look amazingly healthy though with a slight dewy finish (not as dewy as BB cream of course).

Colour

The colour of this foundation is definitely NOT true to the colour chart out there. If possible, you should definitely try a tester before buying (you should be doing that anyway). For me, these shades in general fell a little pale for me but it does oxidise and should be used without primer for best results. Linen was closest to my skin colour as Ginger tended to be very similar to Linen but with a warmer tone to it. 

I first applied this using a foundation brush and I looked super pale even when topped with a powder to set the foundation (I was like, ghostly). Second time round, I applied this foundation using my fingers and with generally less product and it oxidised to fit my skin tone perfectly. I think as this foundation is generally on the more watery side and isn't as thick as other foundations out there, applying using your fingers is better than using a brush.

Feel

This foundation felt super light on my face, I didn't feel like I was wearing foundation at all. However, if you have dry skin, be wary - this foundation does everything it can to emphasise the dry flaky areas of your face. As this foundation is watery rather than creamy and thick, it sits dry on the face and therefore any dry patches will be exposed. I would recommend using a good day cream before applying this foundation to prevent flakyness. Otherwise, this foundation feels great on the face. 

Wear

When this foundation says highest wear, it really does mean highest wear. The foundation stays on all day and doesn't really need topping up. I find that because it is quite a dry foundation, it doesn't need much oil control throughout the day. It also stays matte for a long time, I only found myself looking ever so slightly oily right towards the end of the day. 

Cost

In terms of cost, this foundation isn't cheap. It costs around £20 which is not as expensive as brands like MAC or Nars but not as cheap as drugstore foundation. I think it's pretty good value for money considering I only wear foundation on weekends and BB cream during the working week. Though that being said, I hope there'll be more variety in shades in the future as the current line up is very limited with all shades being uber pale. Overall, I don't think I'd buy this foundation again as I'd probably rather splash an extra £12 and buy Nars instead. This foundation for me is quite situational as if I had dry skin - I wouldn't be able to use it, if I tanned on holiday - I wouldn't be able to use it. 

Review: Tonymoly Tomatox Mask

For those of you unfamiliar with Korean cosmetic brands, Tonymoly is one of the many and focuses on using natural and organic ingredients in their products like aloe, tomato, tea tree, lemon etc. Most of their products also come in uber cute packaging like the above. I find their products are relatively inexpensive compared to some other Korean brands. 

I actually got this mask by accident from one of my best friends who went to Korea and asked me if there was anything I wanted. I actually asked her to get me my usual Baviphat Strawberry Toxifying clay mask and she came back with this instead as the packaging looks kinda similar! Since she had already bought it for me I thought why not try it out, it has a different function to my clay mask so I was curious to see how good it was.

Unlike my clay mask, this mask is like cream, it even smells like face cream. It spreads quite thinly and ends up looking like a mask except it doesn't dry like my clay one does. You massage it on and leave it for 5-10 mins (I always go for the maximum) then rinse your face. I like the convenience of this mask as you don't need to leave it on for ~20 mins so it serves as a quick mid-week skin pick-up for me. Of course, it's not as convenient as sheet masks where you can just rip off without having to rinse your face. 

Like with most Korean pot masks, the product comes with a small spoon to prevent contamination if you scoop with your fingers so make sure you use it instead of digging in with your fingers! 

It spreads very smoothly and evenly on my face but I did notice (and I have read that others had the same experience) that it kinda burns on your face for about 2 minutes and then stops. Not sure how worrying this is but I've also found that when using it more often, the burning decreases - I'm giving the product the benefit of the doubt by thinking it's just my skin adjusting to a new product. At least my face hasn't come out all blotchy or swollen so I know it can't be an allergic reaction!

As this mask is quite thin and the recommending masking time is quite short I think this type of mask is more suited for those who like masking often and are looking for a mask that serves it main purpose as brightening up the skin. I probably wouldn't recommend it for anyone with particularly sensitive skin or looking for something that penetrates deep into the skin to clear up acne as this product may be a bit too weak for that. 

I primarily use this in conjunction with my clay one, I feel it works really well - I use this one mid-week to brighten up my skin and then my clay one during the weekends as a detox to get rid of all those toxins built up on an deep into my skin during the week. The main function of this mask is brightening / whitening as it contains pearl powder and Lycopene from the tomato extract so it's perfect for what I want it to do - give my skin a brighten up mid-way through the week! I would highly recommend this mask. 

K-Drama Review: One More Happy Ending

I've been stuck for a while now with writer's block trying to put together a review for a K-Drama - any K-Drama. I've actually been back onto the addiction after having fallen off because I was failing to find a good drama to watch. Having seen so many recent ones that have actually been good, it's been hard to deconstruct my thoughts and put them into words for a review. But after having seen 'One More Happy Ending' and blitzing through it in 3 days, it's made me really want to review it despite it having aired about a year ago!

Ah, I effing loved the story, it was an almost perfect rom-com for me. I don't think I've seen such a mature and refreshing rom-com since 'It's Okay, That's Love' in all honesty. Without revealing too much about the story, it mainly revolves around 4 former girlband idols who disbanded and are now living life in their mid-30s struggling to get their love lives on track. Although there is a focus on one of the girls, there's a perfect balance between all of them with each having a very distinct personality. By the time the drama finishes, you're left feeling connected with all 4 ladies and sympathise with each of them. It's very Sex in The City-esque and that's what works amazingly in this drama. The only tiny critique I would have about the story is that I think they may have tried to squeeze too much into 16 episodes and if it were 20 episodes long, they could have drawn out some of the other plots longer. [*SPOILERS AHEAD*] For example, the part at the end where Yeon Soo suddenly agrees to marry some other guy despite still having affection for Hae Joon was quite unexpected - I was hoping they would give each other a chance again as Hae Joon still cares for Yeon Soo. Maybe it wasn't enough for him to want to try their marriage again but her agreeing to marry some other guy that seems quite out of her ordinary personality was quite disappointing. To me, it felt like the writers had to create some sort of happy resolution for her because everyone else has found happiness with love by the end. You could argue that Hae Joon didn't end up with anyone but he's happy that his best friend and the woman he once loved are happy together and that's enough for him *shrugs*. Annnnd I would've loved to see Da Jung and Gun Hak's relationship grow more and more until they finally share a bedroom again(!!!) and maybe Dong Mi getting hitched with her toyboy - but maybe that's asking too much.[*SPOILERS END*]

Honestly, there was no one in this drama that made me stop to think why their acting was so shite. The 4 girls - Mi Mo, Dong Mi, Da Jung and Ae Ran were perfectly casted. My favourite had to be Dong Mi, she's just so hilarious for a 34 year old and comes across as very obviously inexperienced in love, often turning to her soul sisters for advice. Her falling for the wrong men, paying tons of money to attend mixers and then ultimately falling for someone unexpected was hilarious. She's literally the classic virgin amongst your girlfriends. Yoo In Na portrayed this character amazingly, having always seen her in other dramas play either the hapless female lead that needs saving ('Queen In Hyun's Man, My Secret Hotel') or the bitch everyone hates ('My Love From Another Star'), it was great to see this side of her acting. Jang Na Ra really stepped it up in this drama compared to when I saw her in 'Fated To Love You', I didn't like her as much in that drama - I'm not sure why either. In this drama, although she was great, I still found her a little irritating at times, I think it's her whole cutesy demeanour when she's drunk to be honest and that baby-voice she puts on. I don't want to sound like a hater because she was great when it came to showing emotion of the character but yeah, just little irks. Overall, the girls were great!

Jung Kyung Ho as the main lead (Soo Hyuk) was surprising for me because I still remember him as the cold blooded undercover cop from 'Cruel City', it was great to see him play a more lighthearted and comical character. I think he did brilliantly, he was funny, charming and serious all at the same time.

This was my first time seeing Kwon Yool in anything so I actually have no comparison of him to make to anything. I thought he was OK in his role (as Hae Joon), I did end up feeling so freaking sorry for his character by the end though. His first love was taken by Soo Hyuk and she ended up having his child and dying, his second love (Mi Mo) was taken again by Soo Hyuk which he had to just let go and still be best friends with him by the end. I came to the conclusion that he has got to be the most forgiving man on this planet. It's also sad that he gets absolutely nobody by the end of the drama whilst everyone else gets hitched with someone. Somebody give this guy a break (or a girlfriend).

This was an extremely solid drama from start to finish, I kept wanting to watch episode after episode which is quite rare for me these days. I was so interested in everyone's relationships in the drama and not just Mi Mo and Soo Hyuk's. Almost everyone had a past and the whole concept of ladies in their 30s being single / having issues with their married life / cheating boyfriends etc is just so relatable. Although some concepts in this drama were quite mature (sexual references for example which you don't see in a lot of dramas), they really managed to put a comical spin on it and it was just so lighthearted and fun to watch.

*SPOILER AHEAD* An extra 'hell-yeah!' to the female proposing to a man part at the end between Mi Mo and Soo Hyuk! *SPOILER END*

K-Drama: W - First Impressions

W is another highly anticipated K-Drama that people have been saying rivals Uncontrollable Fond which is also currently airing. Those who have read my previous reviews, you'll know that I very rarely watch dramas as they're airing because I can't handle the cliffhanger endings and having to wait a whole week for the next episodes to be released and subbed. The synopsis of W had me intrigued right away thought and I felt I had to watch it on release date.

The story depicts a romance between a surgeon in the real world and a rich man from the world of a webtoon. What's interesting is the "supernatural" cross-over between reality and fiction - how would that even work? Lee Jong Suk plays the main character - a rich guy inside the webtoon called Kang Chul and Han Hyo Joo plays the main female lead - a not-so-talented surgeon called Oh Yeon Joo. I like to base my preconceptions of dramas I watch on the actors / actresses. I've seen Lee Jong Suk before in 'Doctor Stranger' and 'Pinocchio' before so I was really excited that he was in this drama as the main lead, he'll no doubt do a good job. I've never watched anything with Han Hyo Joo in it before so at the same time I was excited to see how good the acting is in it from her.

As of writing this first impressions review, I'm up to episode 4 which is the current episode that just aired this week. I must say - I am hooked. Although on the outside this drama just seems like any old romance drama, you can see how much thought the writers have put into making this concept even possible. The majority of the first 4 episodes show the webtoon world which is pretty much Seoul, it's not based on a fictitious location so when Yeon Joo goes into the webtoon world, it's not actually much different to the reality that she comes from except time goes much faster in the webtoon world (7 days in the webtoon world = 30 minutes in the real world).

***SPOILERS FOR EPISODES 1, 2, 3 AND 4 AHEAD***

Without boring you with the minor details, the plot as of now seems to revolve around this webtoon creation that Yeon Joo's father made that became famous over time and as Yeon Joo's father attempts to kill Kang Chul to end the webtoon, Kang Chul refuses to let his life end and whatever Yeon Joo's father tries to do with the webtoon, Kang Chul changes the circumstances so that he lives.

Yeon Joo ends up in the webtoon after Kang Chul gets stabbed (as per Yeon Joo's father's plans to have him stabbed and killed) and ends up saving his life.

After that, she ends up flitting in between the 2 worlds and ends up landing herself as the suspect for stabbing Kang Chul and ends up in jail. This makes her tell Kang Chul everything about who he really is and the world he's really in, the shock of this reality to Kang Chul that everything around him is fake causes his world to completely stop.

As Kang Chul's world stops, he finds a portal of some sort that leads into the real world where Yeon Joo is back at.

Just like that Kang Chul ends up in the real world like a terminator and THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET INCREDIBLY EXCITING. We also find out that the source of the portal is the wacom tablet that Yeon Joo's dad was using the create his webtoon - spooky.

That pretty much summarises the first 4 episodes of the drama. I'm so so so incredibly excited for next week's episodes because Kang Chul is now in the real world. I'm really enjoying this drama at the moment, from my summary it may seem like the plot is a very serious one. Kang Chul is a very serious character, he also oozes cool-ness and Yeon Joo is a very ditzy, confused and daring character, she brings a slight humour to the drama that makes it even more enjoyable. The romance seems to be going at quite a fast pace with already 2 instances of kissing in the space of 4 episodes(!!)

And not to mention, Yeon Joo's disgust at the lacy bra option she was given when staying at Kang Chul's place.

And her constantly trying (but failing) to take Kang Chul by surprise... you go girl! 

Can't wait for next week!

Review: Samsung NX Mini

So I've been looking for a new camera recently and I stumbled across the Samsung NX Mini which looked quite sleek, good for selfies and has a detachable lens. I was looking for something that's a cross between a DSLR and a compact camera - high quality shots and videos but not super heavy and burdensome to lug around. This little camera caught my eye because well, it's Samsung and having a Samsung phone too must mean connectivity could be nice and easy, the 20.5mp as my last camera was only 16.1mp and I thought that was already really good and of course, the fact that it comes in white. I know I'm being a bit of a diva here but I really wanted something in white. 

I did some extensive research before buying it off Amazon, such as reading up some very technical reviews of it, some less technical ones for the casual photographer and also taking on board some people's negative reviews of it. Overall, people said it's a cheap camera, good money for value, takes some good shots, good connectivity with the camera having it's own Wi-Fi and NFC support, the only downside some people mentioned is that with the standard pancake lens you can't zoom at all unless you go and buy the 9-27mm lens. I decided to go ahead and buy it for £239.99 off Amazon, the kit I bought was the camera + a 9mm pancake lens - the other lens you can get for this camera is a 9-27mm lens which lets you zoom but that's additional and not included in the standard kit. 

The camera arrived pretty quickly, it came with:

• Camera body
• 9mm lens
• Charger
• Wrist strap
• Battery
• User manuals and 2 CDs, one for Adobe Lightroom and one for the camera software

First impressions was that it was small, sleek, nice aluminium finish on the top and bottom of the camera, lens clipped on nicely, the flip up screen was good - I liked how it turns on automatically when you flip the screen up to take selfies. The only downside was that the plastic "leather-like" main body felt really tacky and cheap. It was comfortable to hold and I didn't really experience any difficulty holding the camera and taking pictures that some people online have mentioned - maybe it's just because I have relatively small hands.

Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed with the performance of the camera, it wasn't as high quality as I expected and the video quality was average. One of the things that bugged me the most was that the focusing of the camera was terrible, of course with all cameras, when you hold down the camera button halfway it picks up focus before you take the picture - the camera had this but even before that, when you move the camera around it tends to blur a lot and then focus, blur and then focus again when you move some more. This was also apparent when you tried to take videos, even when the camera was still, it would blur and then focus, blur and then focus - as you can imagine this would be really annoying for vloggers. The settings for auto focusing were also very limited, it was literally off or on and although you can tap the screen to focus onto you, it tends to lose focus very quickly again. 

Positives that I did like about this camera was that you don't need to take the battery out and attach it to some external charger to charge the camera which I quite liked. I could also use my Samsung phone charger to charge the camera which was pretty cool. I also liked that the camera uses Micro SD cards rather than the larger SD cards, I had a spare 64gb Micro SD from my Samsung S4 which came to be really useful. The mechanics of the flip up screen was also nice, it locks into place when you flip it up and back down so in no way at all was it cheap and flimsy. You can also use the touch screen to navigate settings or you can use the buttons so there were 2 ways of scrolling through settings / viewing images and videos. The touch screen is also handy for when you want to change settings whilst you're taking selfies, I can imagine without it, taking selfies would be a lot more annoying.

Verdict: Although the camera looks nice down on paper, I would highly recommend you go and test this camera out at a store rather than buy it based on what is said online, for a camera with such good specs I was quite disappointed with the performance of it. My Samsung S6 takes better pictures and videos with less MP and no major auto focusing issues like this camera has. 

Basically, I ended up returning this camera due to disappointment.

Review: Barry M - Speedy Quick Dry Nail Paints

I'm a self-confessed nail polish hoarder, I used to be obsessed with Nails Inc. polishes but quite recently I've come across these lovely colours by Barry M and decided to grab a few (as they were buy one get another half price at Boots!) to try out. I've never owned any nail polishes by Barry M before so this was a bit of risk buying so many at a time but these colours were just too good to pass - I'm a BIG sucker for pastel nail colours in general so why not!? 

First impressions of the colours available - woooow! Such pretty colours. They have various shades of pastels in this range of polishes and I struggled to choose which to buy. I ended up opting for 'Eat My Dust' - a lovely pastel grey-blue, 'Road Rage' - a beautiful soft mint green, 'Kiss Me Quick' - a pretty baby pink colour and 'In A Flash' - a nude-ish pink with hints of coral. As you can tell, the names of the shades are related to... speed! I love the design of the bottles too. 

After trying out the blue polish, I've instantly fallen in love with this range - the flat brush design is amazing, I feel like all polishes should have a flat brush - easy application, minimal mess and smudge - perfect. The usual complaint I have with pastel coloured polishes is that it takes about 3 coats to get a full coverage without streaks. I'm so glad that these were 2 coat polishes, I think I've finally found the perfect pastel polishes! The only exception is with the nude pink 'In A Flash', this one took 3 coats, I think I could've gotten away with 2 but 3 for a full coverage was needed which is a little on the downside but the other 3 were fine with just 2 coats. Generally, I use a base coat, 2 coats and a top coat for extra long lasting nails.

Finally, do they last? Yes! Absolutely. I wore the blue for a week and it didn't even chip by the end of the week, I like to change up my nail colour every week so I'm currently wearing the nude pink which has lasted for 3 days so far and so good! Overall, this polish is amazing, from the brush design to how long it lasts, it's a definite must buy again for me.

Short review but I just wanted to emphasise how amazing Barry M nail paints are! Can't wait to try their other nail paint lines. 

K-Drama Review: Descendants of the Sun

Following swiftly on from my last post about my first impressions of DOTS, it's finally come to an end. This drama was one of the very few that I've followed from beginning to end as it aired week by week because I'm impatient and can't actually wait a whole week for next episodes.

I adored the concept of a doctor falling for a soldier from the very beginning and although this drama was short (16 episodes in total), I feel like everything fell into place very quickly. The romance was a love at first sight thing and the romance between Myung Joo and Dae Yong was already established. Overall, I really enjoyed this drama from beginning to end, great choice of main cast.

*WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD*

The ending was a bit of a downer for me, episode 15 and 16 didn't make as much of an impact as the rest of the drama did. I didn't like how they "killed" off Shi Jin and brought him back to life for the second time running. Killing people off and bringing them back to life once in a drama I can sort of accept but doing it twice is a bit of a shitty situation. It's also pretty unrealistic how he can always come back to life after being shot to pieces for the first time and then shot, tortured and beaten for the second time, poor guy must be full of holes. 

To make matters worse, Shi Jin then randomly shows up in front of Mo Yeon in some dessert in the fictional Urk like "I'm baaaaack!" prompting a pretty angry response from Mo Yeon who thought he was dead for the past year. Same with Dae Young showing up in front of Myung Joo. Of course, what really happened was explained to save ourselves from sheer wtf-ness - they were captured, beaten, tortured and then saved by the North Korean dude who is also known as Shi Jin's "friend from far away".  I'm not going to lie, despite the repeat-death-plot, the reunion for our main cast was very sweet. 

And of course, the army was glad to have them back in one piece. 

Apart from the slightly crappy ending, I really like how well Song Hye Kyo and Kim Ji Won playing Mo Yeon and Myung Joo respectively portrayed their sadness when we thought Shi Jin and Dae Yong really died in episode 15. Amazing acting skills. 

The final episode was more of a wrap up, tying up the loose ends and explaining to us what really happened. It's a happily ever after ending with all our characters. 

Mo Yeon and Shi Jin finally get away from their work lives to spend quality alone time together

Dae Young finally gets approval from Myung Joo's dad to be with her forever and ever

Even Seung Joon and Jung Yeon FINALLY get together! Ugh, the sexual tension between these 2 throughout the drama was frustrating

The drama pretty much ends there, nothing significant happens apart from lots of lovey dovey scenes, I loved the scene in the army cafeteria when Myung Joo makes everyone lower in rank to her close their eyes including Dae Young (who is lower in rank to her) and takes the opportunity to steal a kiss - ahhhh, you go girl! Everyone opens their eyes and applauds to the very sight of their successful love story.

And not to mention, Shi Jin and Mo Yeon return to their special beach in Urk as the pebble signifies and talk about the stars, making wishes, Shi Jin asks Mo Yeon what she wished for and she said she wished that Shi Jin would kiss her and... 

Awww I love happy endings. In the final scene of the drama, our cast is in Vancouver attending Daniel and Ye Hwa's wedding then there's a power cut and a waitress busts in saying a volcano has erupted LOL - I'm sorry but I found this so cheesy - can they ever get away without being followed by a natural disaster? It was a bit of a "TO YOUR BATTLE STATIONS!" moment.

Apparently not. 

Very enjoyable drama, just not a very satisfying ending. I feel it's slightly over-hyped across East Asia but totally worth watching if you're a fan of Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo.