Innisfree - on the road with me

As someone who is always on the go I need my skincare to work hard for me.

I won't lie... I hardly ever sleep 8 hours a night and with my wedding creeping closer this just means my skincare routine need to be on point... even when I am away from home. I will introduce a couple of items that I always take on my trip with me that are not my core skincare routine. 

One of the things I have adapted to over the years is K-beauty. So on my first trip to Seoul 8 years ago I discovered sheet mask and Innisfree. Their My Real Squeeze range is my usual "go to" as it is quite inexpensive and has a huge selection of scents. As I am always on the plane, I usually pack one into my handbag with a sheet make up remover before I board my journey home. This helps give my skin that boost of moisture that the recirculated aeroplane air tends to take away. This doesn't irritate my sensitive skin and I love how hydrating it is. The refreshing scent is obviously a bonus too. Tip: In summer I like to refrigerate these and put them on cold before bed.

My favourite scents are green tea, honey, aloe vera and ginseng. I do use this as part of my normal routine too but at home I tend to mix it up a bit where I will also use a sleeping mask or collagen skin clinic mask.

From having a hectic lifestyle, I need to take care of my body too. This means I work out A LOT, I mean 5 - 6 days a week. With all the weight training I do, it tends to take a toll on my hands. So I like to carry around a hand cream with me. On my last trip to Seoul I discovered the Jeju life handcreams. They come in cute small tubes which are perfect handbag size. This little pocket rocket is a rich velvety hand cream that doesn't leave the hand feeling sticky, it absorbs fast and locks in the moisture. I like to use it after I have washed my hands and in the past month of use I have notice a difference as my hands look more youthful despite the harsh cold weather I am in. There is 12 scents in the form of different months. My go to scent is February (tangerine farm) and December (citrus tea). However I can foresee myself getting a bit out of control with these on my next Innisfree shop up.

My nightly routine is a bit more comprehensive with 8-12 steps but I will save that for another time.

If you are wondering where you can get the 2 things above, well lucky for us Innisfree has opened up in Australia but if you can't get to a store, their website ships to Australia. They normally have a different promotions every few weeks. The Innisfreeworld website is easy to navigate and you will easily fill you your shopping cart with all the goodies they have to offer. Don't say you weren't warned!

Lune Lab experience

If you live in Melbourne and you haven't heard of Lune... then you must be living under a rock. Being crowned the best croissants in Melbourne (or dare I say Australia ... or potentially even the world), it is place that foodies from all across the world go running to when in Melbourne.

For some die hard fans (such as myself) to be able to get my hands on Lune Lab tickets was a very sacred achievement.

With Lune Lab, it is a 3 course degustation. The first course is always the same, it is a classic croissant fresh out of the oven but the second and third course vary by the season.

The ticket price are steep and I wont deny it is a lot to pay for 3 croissants. However if you love (eating) croissants as much as I do, then you might want to hang in there and keep reading.

The first course 

First croissant is one that is 10 minutes out of the oven. Your host will give you a choice from a huge tray, if you like your croissants softer then you go for something in the middle of the tray or if you prefer it more crispy then the edge of the tray. I went with my trusty food buddy (my lifelong eating partner) and tried one of each. When you taste one after another then the differentiation is  there, however if you just taste one, then it is much harder to call out that difference. Either way you pick, you will still taste fresh out of the oven croissant is still warm and the layers of the pastry is defined and fluffy. This is what I would term buttery goodness.

The second course
Second course is the savory croissant. Fortunately for me, I visited during truffle season and had a lovely surprise awaiting me. The dish was Beef Bourguignon. This was a classic croissant served as a classic French dish. It came with a red wine jus, mash potato and generous shavings of truffle shaved in front of you. The croissant was baked perfectly and you cut through layers of pastry and paired with a perfectly cooked beef. The kale crisp adds that extra texture to balance off the dish. I am a tad sad that this was seasonal. As I finished my dish I was thinking to myself that I  am not sure when I will get another chance to taste this again (if only they offered seconds).

The final course
Final course was a Yuzu tart. This is the Lune version of a tart that is made from croissant pastry.

During the whole experience you will have bottomless coffees and hot chocolate. You can drink yourself silly, like my partner did and be very energetic for the rest of the day. The staff won't judge you and be very attentive to ensure all your coffees/hot chocolates arrive promptly.

Final words
I would highly recommend this experience and would go again. If you are questioning why would you pay $60+ for 3 croissants... well this is why

• creativity and thought that has gone behind the process to deliver something exceptional on the plate
• dedication and art of finessing the details of a perfectly crafted croissant
• taste of something that you cannot easily get anywhere else
• being able to taste croissants done in a very different way
• being able to buy as many of the croissants as you like without having to line up
• truely experience and taste the dedication that Kate Reid and her team has gone to, in order to perfect and elevate the humble croissant.

Oh also, I would recommend the first session over the second session. By the end of our session, some of the croissant varieties have sold out. If you don't want to miss out, best to wake up a bit earlier.

Lune Lab tickets need to be bought in advance and sell out very fast. So if you want to go, head to the Lune website and find the next lot of ticket release, set a reminder on your phone and just have super fast internet when the ticket release day comes. Good Luck!!

Additional rambling notes: I have been a loyal Lune fan (since the Elwood days). I honestly think it is the best croissant I have ever tasted in my travels. I set out on a food adventure on most my holidays and yet to find something that comes close to Lune. Would love to hear other people's Lune or general croissant experiences. 

Frequent Traveller

The best part about my job is sometimes also the worst part of my job. Growing up, I yearn to see the world and had a job that allow me to be that "glamorous frequent traveller". Now as an adult, I did make part of that childhood vision true. I am a frequent traveller but at no angle of my travel is it glamorous as I have envisage as a child.

What I thought it would be like when I was young.

The Job
I am one of those that people call a "Management Consultant". In university it was one of those roles that many, many apply for in hope for a prestigious career with endless opportunities. Part of the role also entails consultants to be client facing and hence the travel. In the 4 years I have been a Consultant. I have been fortunate to travel all around Australia, Shanghai, USA and Canada. As I said, the travel part is definitely true, but with corporate Travel polices and companies tightening on spending, the accommodation and flights is far from glamorous. 14 hour work trips on economy class is a far cry from what I had hope for (don't get me wrong, I fly economy in all my personal travels). As I write this, I know
how much of a "first world problem" it is, however it still doesn't change the fact it fell short from my personal expectations

The work is hardly every easy, the job comes with long hours and it is normal to work past 8 or 9pm each night. The days I get to finish at 5pm, I consider that finishing early. Most nights when away from home, dinner would consist of hotel room service or take out. What I would do for a home cooked meal after working for 12 hours straight!

The Travel
Waking up Monday morning at 4am to catch a 7am flight to Sydney can become the norm for about 3 months (average length of projects). Then come back home on Thursday night around 10pm each week. You start to fall into a routine and then BAM project ends and you are sent elsewhere. Since I am from Melbourne, the Sydney projects aren't too bad and if anything I do quite enjoy them. The ones I tend to dread are Brisbane. As I need to fly up on Sunday afternoon in order to show up on 8.30am on Monday. So there goes part of my precious weekend. As you can tell that can fast become boring. However whinging aside, there is perks, I can choose to stay in the city I am working in for the weekend, which then allows me explore. Or visit friends from other Australian cities.

Alone on Valentine's Day in NYC. Only keeping me warm was a coffee from Starbucks

International projects are also on the cards for me. (As I am writing this, I am in Canada on a 3 month project). This obviously has its pros and cons. Obviously due to the distance I don't fly home every weekend. Fly-backs only happen every 6-8 weeks. This can make me very home sick at times. I have lost count of the times I have wished so hard to sleep in my own bed and wake up next to my partner in the morning. I have missed many, many birthdays and weddings. I try to make it home for special milestone occasions but with so many friends and family to account for, it is hard (almost impossible) to not miss out on some of those special occasions. While we are allow to say "no" to projects, it is normally frowned upon when you first joined (I'm talking about the minion stages) to decline project and be difficult to resource out.

I should also mention, we don't always go to big cities. Sometimes you could jump on a small commercial or charter plane and end up in the middle of nowhere. We always go where the client wants us to go or are based.

With all the cons I stated above, there is also a list of pros. I have had the opportunity to work overseas and explore different countries. I do enjoy the idea that I can enjoy a overseas city on the weekend without the stress of thinking how much I am spending on accommodation and flights (ok yes I still do need to stay within budgets set out by work, but you get the gist). I get to assimilate into a local lifestyle for a short period of time without actually having to "move overseas". My weekends can be quite adventurous. I was in Washington 2 days ago and the weekend before that I was in NYC, next weekend I will be Miami. With all the travel you also learn to travel solo and the benefits of it. I went to Universal Studios in LA by myself and was able to finish the park in 4 hours, I was able to take advantage of all the single rider lines and go for round 2 on the rides I like. When I am flying I am also more likely to get upgraded as I am on my own and I have status on the airlines I travel with. Speaking of flying, I also have a lot of frequent flyer points from the flying and being savvy on my credit card points. I have managed to fly myself and my partner to Europe on points on our last holiday. Of course it goes without saying that I also get lounge access, and I am not accustomed to taking the priority line at airports so I can skip the queue (yes I very much need that, as I am always running late). However as fun as it sounds, the novelty does wear off and it's not long before I miss my mum's cooking and my dog coming to greet me when I get home.


The Life

Random weekend exploring NYC

So there you have it, the summary of my so called "consulting" life. Would I change the experience I have? No, it has provided me some of the best work experience I could ask for. Would I still be in this role in 5 years time? Unlikely, you do burn hard and that "work hard, play hard" mentality can't last forever. You do reach a stage where you just want to stay home. However for now, I will continue to allow my adventurous side take over and find new cities to explore and more hotels and cities I can contribute to TripAdvisor.