It was bittersweet going through my old things. I feel sad about the makeup and skincare I've left behind but it's always nice to pare things down. I've never wanted to have a huge makeup collection, I just want a collection of reliable things. I actually get dizzy from having too many options!

The first good thing I picked up off my skincare box is this Hada Labo Travel set I got from some bookstore (yes!) in Japan. It was really cheap and it was Hada Labo, a super-popular Japanese skincare brand, so why not? At the time, I was with a Japanese friend and I'll try my best to remember the translation conversation as I was deciding between two sets at the time. All the label is in Japanese so I'm going to have to wing it.

The orange lotion bottle is some kind of cleanser. I was supposed to go with the other set as the cleanser seemed to be the only difference and my friend mentioned something about oil with this one. I assumed it meant 'for oily skin', but he wouldn't let me run with that definition. He is a man, he said, so translating these terms was guesswork at best. In the end, he decided the translation was 'oil-based cleanser,' which is perfect for me.

The tube is a cleanser. Foaming, I guess. I haven't heard much about Hado Labo cleansers so I'll be extra observant about this one.

The clear bottle is a lotion. I'm not sure if it's the game-changing Hyaluronic acid lotion so I'm not sure what to feel in trying this. I'll have to be extra-vigilant then.

The last, opaque bottle is a moisturizer. I don't think it has SPF as I don't see those letters anywhere on the labels. I'm not sure if they have a different term for SPF though, so I'd really love to have a Japanese person look at this.

I'll be using this for my two week vacation. I hope I can bring a new set back to Korea so I can try something new.