KOHEPETS Online Pet Shop

I adopted my cat, Patches, in September last year through the Cat Welfare Society (CWS). She’s currently about 1yr 8mnths old, and is pampered AF at home. Look through my Instagram (@yinghan) and you’d know how obsessed I am.

Kohepets found me on Instagram and contacted me 2-3 weeks ago to do a sponsored review for their service and products!! So, here it goes!

Navigation

Navigating their website was a fuss-free experience, with all the different products for the specific animals categorised neatly. 

Costs

Some of the items listed on Kohepets are a little more expensive compared to what I saw on other websites, but there are also some that are cheaper! Overall, I guess the prices of pet food are quite regulated? So you don't really see a big price difference between different websites. I guess if you’re budget-conscious like me (pet food is not cheap!) definitely look around and compare prices. I’ll usually have a few different websites that I order from.

I think many pet owners would appreciate that the minimum spend for free shipping is just $60, versus some other pet stores that require you to spend $80/$100. 

Service & Delivery

I did face some problem after placing the order. Apparently I hadn’t logged in to my account beforehand, so the system wasn’t able to send me an email notification regarding the order. But all it took was just one email to the company, and they did clarify that they’d receive the order.

Also. I received the product just one day after confirmation, delivered to my doorstep! The deliveryman will send a SMS before delivery to ensure that someone’s at home, or if nobody’s home, you can also request for them to place the items inside your shoe cabinet or riser – that’s what I usually do for door deliveries hahaha…

This cat very kaypoh

I wouldn’t say I’m super knowledgeable about pet diets, but generally I would try to look for food with higher level of quality protein, minimum fillers and by-products.
Here's what we got:

Now, Imma break it down into the different brands and ranges. First up, we have the range of canned food from Aixia.


Now, the Japanese know their stuff. Just look at the number of cat cafes in the country, and you will know that they are obsessed over felines. One thing I love about Aixia is that they really pack as much meat as possible into their cans, so you know you’re getting your monies worth. Also helps that their packaging is so KAWAII.

Fussie Cat
The grain free formula is what drew me in.

Similar to Aixia, these cans are STUFFED with meat. 

AatasCat

These canned food are apparently human-grade and grain free. Sounds good to me! 

We tried both the aspic formula and gravy formula before, and somehow there seems to be more meat in the aspic formula. Not sure if that's the same for the other brands. I would say though, the aspic in the AastasCat canned foods does look a little thicker than the Fussie Cat ones. 

Wellness

Wellness is pretty well-known for their quality products. The price is a little more expensive,  but I’d rather pay a bit more every month and know that Patches is eating something that’s good for her.

I’ve been buying Wellness dry food consistently ever since I got my first cat. It has one of the highest protein content amongst the rest of the dry food brand, with pretty good recommendations from reviewers. I used to buy the grain free original formula which has the highest protein content, but we changed our regular dry food to the indoor formula after speaking to one of the volunteers at CWS that indoor cat might not need as much protein since they are generally less active. 

Now, I wouldn’t say Patches is crazy over the dry food, but she doesn’t have a choice - either she eats it or go hungry. I’ve tried several other brands before, but I noticed that some have quite a strong scent – like literally the smell permeates the entire living room. Not a fan, so we switched back to Wellness after that.

The canned food though...Patches HATES it. 

I used to buy the indoor formula canned food for her, and I know that she doesn’t like it. I need to dissolve it with water and mix in some other canned food, so she can just slurp everything up. 

This 'Heart Cuts' range comes in strips, and unlike the normal indoor formula, I can’t dissolve it completely with other canned food. So my spoilt cat actually ate everything she like and left the wellness strips in her bowl-.-

I have no words.

KONG 

Patches was IMMEDIATELY attracted to the KONG toy, and I had to pull her away while taking photos of the products. BUT she got bored after playing a couple times. Patches is definitely more of a hunter/chaser kinda gal, so she prefers string toys and anything that moves around. 

Ciao Churu

This is a snack/treat for cats, but instead of the usual hard kibbles, it’s in liquid form. And this might just be the best thing that has ever happened to the feline race. The minute I flash this stick in front of Patches, she will come running over. Tried and tested. Works 10/10 times. 

Kohepets has the widest range of Ciao Churu snacks on their website, spoilt for choice. If you have a cat, buy him/her one of these. Guaranteed MIND-BLOWING experience for them. In fact, I only know 1 cat who doesn’t love this (Fel, talking about Amber…if you’re reading…hahaha)

And that's a wrap!

Thank you Kohepets for sending over the items!

Kohepets will be holding different giveaways on their Instagram from now all the way till Christmas, so do check em out if you’re looking to win some hampers for your furry friends!

Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick in Gemini

Liquid lipsticks are pretty much the only lip product I've been wearing on my lips these days. When Jeffree Star did a secret launch of his Velour Liquid Lipstick in Gemini, the product got swiped out instantly, and was pretty much always OOS.

Safe to say, I was pretty excited when I got my hands on this baby <3

Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick in Gemini

Description
Gemini is described as a terra-cotta warm-toned nude on the website. I would say it's more of a chestnut rose colour though. It's supposed to be a matte liquid lipstick that stays on for hours.

Price
You can purchase Gemini at $18USD on jeffreestarcosmetics.com, but it's out-of-stock most of the time. I got mine from Shopee at $30 (after a $5 discount). Highly recommend checking out that app for products you can't find easily in Singapore!

Swatches

Lip Swatch

Swatch here has not dried down completely

Dried down swatch in comparison to product in tube

Texture

Compared to the liquid lipsticks from other brands, the Velour liquid lipstick range has a very watery and light texture that is not sticky at all. 

Finishing

One thing I've noticed about liquid lipsticks is that they all dry down to a colour that's slightly darker than the colour in the tube. These velour lipsticks dry matte, so if you've got lots of fine lines like me, they are bound to show. The good things is, they don't dry down to a powdery finish, so it still feels quite comfortable on the lips.

Smell

Gemini is one of the few shades that has a root beer smell infused into its formula. I'm personally not a fan though!

Longevity

The one thing that i'm most impressed about is how well the product lasted. Gemini lasted slightly longer on my lips compared to Rose Matter-perhaps because it's a darker colour. I wore Gemini for about 6-7 hours one day, and had fried chicken in between, but the pigments stayed on pretty well, with just some fading in the inner/middle portion of the lips.

Overall thoughts

There are quite a lot of dark nudes and rosy brown shade out there...many brands are also releasing more wearable, neutral shades and expanding their liquid lipstick range. Just walk into Sephora and you will be able to find really similar shades from brands like Kat Von D, Tarte, Stila etc...even ColourPop is also easily available online.

So far, I think my favourite formula for liquid lipsticks is still Jeffree Star. If you're looking for a wearable, slightly darker nude, Gemini can do no wrong!

Read my review for Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick in Rose Matter!

NYX Strobe of Genius Illuminating Palette

I live by the mantra - 'Glow Big or Go Home', so when I received this palette by NYX a couple of weeks ago, it was literally the highlight of my day (geddit geddit hahaha)! The first thing that came to my mind was - this is huge. There is no way anyone can finish using this.

Description
There are a total of 7 different highlighting shades to give you the ideal illumination, and is designed to achieve the 'strobing' highlight look.

Price

It retails at 19USD on the NYX website, and will soon be available in Singapore at Sephora!

Swatches

Texture

The texture is a little drier than I imagined, and not as 'velvety-smooth' as described on their website. 

Finishing

Most of the highlighters are quite pigmented, but not to the extend where you have to be really careful with it.

I LOVE using no.5 on my cheekbones, as I find that warm peachy/champagne highlighters are the best for my skin tone. On days where I really want my cheekbones and nose bridge to pop, I will add a dose of no.3 or no.2 (the lighter colours) on the highest points of my face. 

No. 4 and no. 6 are too dark to be used as highlighters for me, but I find that mixing the two gives a really nice rose gold colour that's perfect to use as an eyeshadow!

My least favourite is no.1. The shimmers and pearls in this yellow-gold highlighter are too chunky, and the formula is not as pigmented as the rest of the colours.

Longevity

My skin isn't very oily, so highlighters pretty much last the entire day for me! If I know I will be out till late, I will usually spray on either the Urban Decay All Nighter, or the NYX matte finish setting spray. Both of them are pretty good at keeping my makeup on point, and just kinda eliminate any powdery look, and blend everything together.

While I was swatching all these colours, I couldn't help but notice that the particular shade at the bottom left corner (no.5) looks really similar to TheBalm Mary-Lou Manizer, so I did a comparison swatch below!

Left: TheBlam | Right: NYX

The texture of the two highlighters are quite different. TheBalm Mary-Lou Manizer feels a lot softer than the NYX's one, and is more pigmented. You can see that NYX's highlighter is just slightly peachier than TheBalm.

Left: NYX | Right: TheBalm

Left: NYX | Right: TheBalm

On my face, however, both of them are identical!  Pretty stoked that the NYX's palette has one that is such a close dupe for Mary-Lou Manizer!

Overall thoughts

There are quite a lot of product in this palette, and for the price and quality, I would say it's definitely worth keeping a lookout for! It's a cool palette for serious highlighter freaks like myself, as you can experiment different combinations to find your perfect highlight shade. The possibilities are endless.

It's not as buttery-soft as other higher-end highlighters, but again, the pigmentation and the soft-focus effect it gives makes up (pun not intended) for it.

DUPE ALERT - Rose Matter (Jeffree Star) vs Vintage (Silkygirl)

Of course, the only thing that can propel me to make a 'comeback' on this dead space is my addiction to lip products. I'm a lip junkie, that's for sure.

I've always been someone who appreciates hydrating, creamy lip products. However,  I've decided to jump on the liquid lipstick bandwagon a couple of weeks ago, and I haven't looked back since.

Silkygirl is definitely not a brand I gravitate towards, but I passed by Guardian one day and they had a pretty prominent spot with their new Matte Junkie line. After a few swatches, I walked away with their Matte Junkie Lip Cream in 04 Vintage. Then, Jeffree Star basically sold me the Velour Liquid Lipstick in Rose Matter (and Gemini) with this video. 

I've already started using Vintage before Rose Matter arrived, so when I saw Rose Matter in person, I had a feeling that it's going to be very similar to Vintage. 

Silkygirl Matte Junkie Lip Cream in 04 Vintage | Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick in Rose Matter

Description
Vintage is touted to be kiss-proof and transfer resistant, applies like a liquid lipstick that dries to a matte finish. Rose Matter is described to be a soft coral colour that goes on opaque, dries down to a matte finish and stays on for hours.

In the tube, it seems like Vintage had a brown undertone, something like a soft rosey brown colour, whereas Rose Matter looks more pinkish. I wouldn't describe Rose Matter as a soft coral. To me, it seems more like a medium rose colour.

Price
Vintage retails at S$11.90 at Guardian/Watsons. I got mine at $8.90 during a promotion.
Rose Matter retails at 18USD on jeffreestarcosmetics.com. I bought mine on Shopee (love it! so many discount codes!) at S$30.

Swatches

Left: Silkygirl Matte Junkie Lip Cream in 04 Vintage | Right: Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick in Rose Matter

Left: Silkygirl Matte Junkie Lip Cream in 04 Vintage | Right: Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick in Rose Matter

As you can tell, the two colours are SOO similar! The difference is more obvious on my upper lip. Vintage looks just a tiny bit more brown then Rose Matter, but honestly you can see it now because this is a zoomed-in shot. It's really hard to tell in person, trust me.

Texture
Vintage has a slightly thicker texture, compared to Rose Matter which feels lighter and more watery. Both of them spreads really easily, and are highly pigmented.

Finishing
Vintage dries matte in a matter of seconds, and when it dries, you can feel the moisture vacuumed off your lips. BUT they don't feel powdery, if you get what I mean...some really drying matte lipsticks can do that.  Rose Matter is interesting. I didn't think it dried down completely matte like Vintage, because when i purse my lips together, I can feel sort of a balmy, satin-like finish, but then I took a look at the mirror and it looked pretty matte.

I have pretty wrinkly lips, and any matte lipsticks will enhance them. What I do is I swipe on a lip balm after the liquid lipsticks dry down, to seal it off.  I don't apply the balm before, because I want the lipstick to really stick onto my lips. Currently using Korres Mandarin Lip Butter Stick (colourless). It's not glossy, so I can still have at least a demi-matte look, and it's quite hydrating. Just one swipe across the lips will do!

Scent
Vintage is pretty much fragrance-free, there is just a very very faint plastic smell that won't bother anyone. Whereas Rose Matter is scented with a root beer flavour. To be honest, not a fan of the root beer smell, would rather it be fragrance-free!

Longevity
Liquid lipsticks will come off in contact with oil, so if you're having something oily, don't expect it to stay put! Otherwise, I would say these two last around the 4-5 hour mark, although I think Rose Matter lasts slightly longer. Both leave a nice stain behind, and will definitely require some oil-remover to completely remove them.

Overall thoughts

  

If I'm choosing solely based on the formula, I would say I prefer Rose Matter more than Vintage, just because it feels lighter and is not as drying. But for its price (which is a fraction of Jeffree Star's liquid lipstick), Vintage is pretty spot on.

Do you need both? NO. Vintage is a very affordable and comparable dupe for Rose Matter. They look so similar is real life that people couldn't even tell I was wearing two different lip colours on my lips. If you've been eyeing Rose Matter,  but just can't get your hands on it (it's sold out AGAIN on their site), go try out Vintage first!

NARS Audacious Lipstick In Michiyo

It's been 2 months since my last post! I'll be sharing my thoughts on NARS Audacious lipstick in Michiyo (a bright fucshia-pink). I've had the lipstick for a couple of months now. Bought it the first day it was launched in Singapore. 

Description
Debut weightless, color-saturated lips when you smooth on this NARS Audacious Lipstick. It glides on like satin across skin, and achieves single-stroke coverage that leaves lips with captivating colour. 

 Price

At S$43, the NARS Audacious lipstick definitely comes with a hefty price tag.

Texture
Despite the high coverage, the lipstick actually feels really lightweight on the lips. I would describe it as a satin finish, with just a tiny bit of glossiness. 

Scent

Virtually no scent

Packaging
Hands down my favourite packaging in my entire lipstick collection. The sleek black metal bullet with a magnetic closure and the embossed NARS logo is just on point.  Gives me great satisfaction simply by opening and closing the lipstick. I want to hashtag #cheapthrill, but I realise - it's ironic. 


Swatches
Indeed, one swipe and you get a super intense, gorgeous creamy colour.
*There's no glitter, no idea why the swatch on top looks like it contains glitter. 

I tried out a few different ways to wear Michiyo - clockwise from top: WIth gloss, ombre, full coverage, stained.

Longevity 
The lip colour adheres to the lips very well and it leaves a very nice stain even after drinking and eating. I don't think it has any problem staying on for more than 5 hours.

What I like:
The intensity, the pigmentation, the weightlessness, the beautiful packaging. 

What can be improved:
I find that the lipstick can feel a little drying sometimes, but usually, it's just in the middle ground, where it's neither moisturising nor drying.

Overall thoughts:
It's a super luxurious lipstick. BUT the formula and coverage is definitely top-notch. It will make a perfect stocking filler this Christmas and I know i'll be really thrilled to get one! 

Michiyo is also a really good dupe for NARS Schiap, which is a matte formula. Unfortunately, Schiap is too drying for me, and I'm really glad to have found Michiyo, which is just a tad darker than Schiap.

Is it worth the money? I guess if you try to google for dupes, you might actually find a cheaper, similar product out there. This is a splurge, but I think it's fine to indulge and buy something nice once in awhile, especially if it's a high quality product that you know you will use frequently! I can only speak for myself, and yes, it's a little painful when I had to fork out $43 for a lipstick, but it's worth it. I love it very much, and I would like to try out some other shades in the range!

Korea Trip Day 10-14: Back to Seoul!

This is the final post on my trip to Korea! Took me more than 5months to blog about my entire trip-.-

Day 10: Cat Cafe and Lotte Mart

We arrived in Seoul in the afternoon and the first thing I wanted to do was to visit another CAT CAFE! It's on my itinerary to visit at least 3 cat cafes in Korea. We headed to Godabang Cat Cafe, which was walking distance from our accomodation. The price was quite standard, probably around 8000won-10,000won per entry and it comes with a free drink as well!

We followed the instructions from this blog:

'Hongik University, exit 9. Turn left as soon as you exit, and turn right at the first intersection. You will likely see a Garfield mascot. The “Godabang Cat Cafe” will be on your right hand side, and you’ll have to take the stairs up to the third floor'.

This sphinx cat was an active little kitty. The rest of the cats were all nonchalantly chilling by themselves, and he was the only one running around. Halfway through our visit, the staff tried to take him away for some time-out session, and he came running towards me for protection! I have to admit sphinx cats aren't my fav, but that moment was just...to cute...

Now, this is the best part about the cafe. They have feeding time for the cats where they allow customers to feed the cats as well. I'm not too sure how frequent is their feeding time, but I'm thinking probably once every 1-2hours?

Most of the cats are adults, so they're way past the 'playful' stage where they will run after their toys, and the only way to attract their attention is FOOD.

I think I had over 5 cats lick food off my hands that day. I went for round 2 since R passed up his chance lol. All of us had to sanitise our hands before feeding the cats!

We left the cafe after about 1-2hours and went for dinner. Afterwhich, we did quite a bit of damage at Lotte Mart! We ended up with a big cart full of food, and had a hard time carrying everything back. But it was worth it.

Day 11: EVERLAND

We decided for go for Everland instead of Lotte World, as I heard that Everland is more kid-friendly/dreamy in comparison to Lotte World which has more rides catered for adults. I'm not one to go on exciting rides, so a kid-friendly theme park with setting that looks like it came straight out of a fairytale is more to my preference.

Unlike Lotte World, Everland is located outside the city, so there's a lot more travelling involved. We took the train all the way to Gangnam station, and then took bus 5002 to a transit stop, and a shuttle bus brought us up to Everland. 

This is really more of a sight-seeing trip for me, since I'm not big on rides.

Love this place! Couldn't help but to think of elves, little fairies and talking animals living together in harmony.

There was also a tulips festival in Everland and we were surrounded by bright flowers in full bloom.

Of course, I fell into the tourist trap of getting a headgear that I will never ever wear outside of Everland.

The safari world ride is a must-see attraction. You will be be able to see lions, tigers, bears, and other wild life creatures in close proximity! The queue was terribly long, I think it took us about 45min-1hr before we board the mini bus that took us around the safari.

I like the idea that all the humans are inside the bus, while the animals just roam freely in the safari. Granted, they are not actually 'free', but it's so much better than being trapped in a cage or a small enclosed area.

I bought a huge back of candy to snack on while R took the rides all by himself. I'm a real coward when it comes to things like roller coasters and horror films, so there's no way to get me up on the rides. Poor guy..well, at least he enjoyed the T-express, said it was one of the most thrilling rides!

We took the cable car back to the entrance, as we were all the way at the other end of the park when it was time to leave.

And that's all for Everland! I thought I took a lot more pictures though...but there was one point where I bought a candy floss and couldn't take any pictures as my hands were all sticky.

Day 12: Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival

This is one of the highlights of our Korea trip. A freaking huge Cherry Blossom Festival. Before this trip, I've never seen a cherry blossom in real life, and every time single time I saw them in Korea, I still got extremely excited. 

Check our this website for more info on how to travel from Seoul to Jinhae, or you can just go to Seoul Station, let the person at the information counter know that you want to visit the festival, and they will sort it out for you.

There was only 1 train to Jinhae and 1 train back to Seoul, and the morning train was set to go at around 530am. The journey there took about 3-4 hours, so we actually only had 6-7hours in Jinahe, before we need to catch our train back to Seoul at around 5pm.

Even before we got down the train, we could already see rows and rows of fluffy cherry blossoms lined neatly along the railroad.

Was it worth the long journey? You tell me. This was taken by my trusty Panasoic LX7.

The cherry blossoms were so fluffy and light, but the light pink colour of the flowers was quite difficult to capture on camera. 

This is not a stock photo. Once again, taken by Panasonic LX7.

Unbelievable. 

I still can't believe I actually saw all of these in real life.

Hahaha, cute kids alert!!!

I didn't do justice to the amazing scenery we saw.

There were vendors selling street food as well, slightly overpriced though.

We had lunch at one of the small little korean restaurant, and the ahjuma said I look beautiful>< HAHAHAAAA.

Then we took a bus and headed over to another section of the festival, near the railroads. The festival covered the entire town, and I don't think it's possible to cover everything in a single day.

Overexposed cherry blossoms again. hai.

We wanted to visit another section, but there was not enough time, so we just went into one of their cafes, chilled for awhile and headed back to Seoul!

Day 13: Seoul Tower!

As we had a rather busy day at Jinhae, we decided to sleep in the next day. I think it was already close to noon when we woke up!

Seoul Tower wasn't really on my itinerary, because R had been there before and he said there wasn't much to see. But being the cliche tourist I am, we decided to head over nonetheless.

We didn't go all the way up to the top of the tower, but i really wanted to visit the Love Locks...very touristy, I know...but I really wanted to do it after watching You Who Came From The Stars.

It was freaking cold up there by the way, and the wind was quite strong as well. We stayed for a good 15min I think, choosing the location for our locks and taking some photos.

We wandered around for awhile after visiting Seoul Tower, and for dinner, we went to this chicken galbi restaurant near our accommodation. 

For supper, we had our favourite hot dark chocolate from Cocobruni. Seriously, try this out if you're ever in the Hongdae area.

Day 14: Ginseng Chicken Soup, Cat Cafe & Back to SG!

On our last day, we skipped breakfast and headed to Gyeongbokgung station in search of the famous Ginseng Chicken Soup. Apparently Korea's late president used to frequent the restaurant as well. You can follow the directions here.

We arrived at around 11+, slightly earlier than lunch time to avoid the lunch crowd. The portion seemed to be pretty big, and we weren't that hungry, so we ordered just one set to try.

The set came with a cup of really strong/concentrated Ginseng wine too.

The chicken was stuffed with rice, dates, herbs and other ingredients.

Yes, including a ginseng as well.

Given the hype around it, we were a little underwhelmed as we felt that the soup wasn't flavourful enough, and it didn't deliver the kind of kick that I thought it would. 

This was the queue when we finished our meal. Luckily we went earlier.

Stopped by an odeng store on the way. That was my last odeng before leaving Korea.

We had to go back to our apartment to vacate our stuff in the afternoon so that the owner could pack and get the apartment ready for the next tenants. Then we went back to cocobruni for our last cup of hot chocolate.

Our final destination was yet another cat cafe... I'm a crazy cat lady. We went back to Cat Living Cafe again because we really like the environment there.

It proved to be a great choice as we had the entire cafe to ourselves!!! The cafe was totally empty for the first like 45min.

My leather jacket was instrumental in attracting the cats' attention.

This fluffed kitty slept on my lap for half an hour, refusing to budge. 

MUNCHKIN!!!
One day, I'm gonna get a scottish fold munchkin.

So peaceful.

That concludes my Korea trip *throws confetti*!! YAY

If you're a first time visitor, I think a 10 day trip to Seoul and Jeju would be more than enough. In my opinion, Busan is a wonderful city to live in, but for sightseeing and shopping, Seoul and Jeju has a lot more to offer! Will definitely go back to Korea for the cheap cosmetics/skincare and drool-worthy makeup, and my skin felt so much better in Korea's less humid climate.