I.O.I Mini Album Vol. 1 Chrysalis - Album Review (Special Edition)

Recently I was cleaning my bookcase and came across this album which was super popular back when it came out. We are talking about the OG Produce 101 group I.O.I and this is their first physical release. I remember being so excited to order this as I watched all the episodes of the first season. It is rather large and takes up a fair amount of space on the shelf. I used to have it facing outwards so you could see the cover however now it's just stacked with other albums.

Chrysalis is the debut mini album from korean girl group I.O.I and it was released on May 4th 2016. Which it's insane to think that it is one year off being 10 years since being released. Wow that's crazy and even more crazy if you think about what an amazing group I.O.I could've been if it wasn't temporary. The mini album was released in two editions: Normal and Special. The normal edition came with a 68 paged photobook and a random photo card. It is housed in your typical hardcover style k-pop album and the photobooks are glued in place. I brought the special edition from YesAsia as I thought that would the harder one to get if I didn't buy it and I would regret it. The Special Edition comes with the following: 

• Outer box packaging
• CD - 7 track mini album
  
• 100 paged photobook (68-pages same as regular edition + additional 30 pages)
• Making photobook 
• Four postcards - Group and member units
• Folded Poster (Random 1 of 11 members)
• Group poster
  

Kep1er 2nd Mini Album Review DOUBLAST - Album Review (B1ue Blast Jewel Case Version)

The inspiration for today's blog post is that I haven't posted a music review in ages so that is what we are going for. I randomly picked an album in my blog backlog and it is the 2nd Mini Album from K-Pop group Kep1er!

DOUBLAST is the 2nd Mini Album from Korean girl group Kep1er and it was released on June 20th 2022. The mini was released in four versions: Lemon Blast and B1ue Blast with both having a photobook and jewel case format. I ordered the jewel case format from YesAsia who sent a random version and I ended up the B1ue Blast one. I did like the concept of the Lemon Blast version more however this one is still fun and fresh. The jewel case format of DOUBLAST comes with the following:

• CD - 5 track mini album
• Jewel case
• 16 page photobook
• Photocard (Random 2 out of 18 types)
• Postcard (Random 1 out of 9 types)

January Favourites

First post of 2025 is a monthly favourites as this is the first time I've been back on blogger since the start of the new year. Unfortunately January hasn't been the best month for me as I had to suddenly go to the hospital one day as I was quite unwell. So I haven't been too active this month and wasn't on my computer really at all. Today I am feeling slightly better and thought it would be nice to put up a new post. Let's get into it!

Gaming

I thought being unwell would give me time to play my Nintendo Switch whilst lying around but I couldn't because of vertigo/dizziness. So the only thing I played was Island Farmer which is a puzzle game where you re-arrange blocks to form farms and landscapres. I have completed the game previously and just restarted all the levels as something simple to play to past the time. Definetly check this game out if you are a fan of puzzle games as well as the developers other title Island Cities.

Downloaded Animal Crossing Pocket Camp after the longest time and I have been enjoying the new version. The main reason I stopped playing was the constant stress from events and grinding to complete them. However the new Complete version of the game as made it less time consuming and you do not have to constantly be checking it every three hours. Luckily I saved my data to my Nintendo account so I still have my previous save which was great as I had high levels and cool items.

Not something I played this month but a game I was thinking about recently which is Fashion Dreamer. I was reading some information about the future of the game online and I saw rumours that they are planning to discontinue the online servers. Now I totally understand why the devs are doing that however it would be a shame if that part of the game wasn't accessible anymore. I am going to wait to see what happens in the next update announcement of the game and honestly I don't see much future for Fashion Dreamer as we never got the fashion shows feature or the fairs are just repeats of previous ones.

Beauty

Received a lovely order from Sportsgirl recently as I took advantage of their great selection of items in the sale section whilst I was unwell. Nothing like a little retail therapy to make you feel better. I needed some small sized bags/wallets for different things and a few things from their beauty range. Sportsgirl has a great range of make-up and you often see the display surrounded by tweens in the stores. Which is awesome because I feel Sportsgirl is more age appropriate for them than somewhere like Mecca or Sephora (which are both stupidly expensive here in Australia). I used to wear quite a lot of Sportsgirl beauty when I was a teenager mainly because it would be gifted to me. One of the items I brought is this bright eye shadow palette as I've been wanting to buy a new palette for ages but couldn't never find anything besides the typical browns and neutrals. So this colourful palette was right up my alley and I love the retro Sportsgirl design. I did have a palette from the brand a while ago however it gave me a reaction on my eyes. So I'm hoping this one will be better as the shades are different and I only paid $5 so I won't feel bad if it doesn't work out.

Zenmarket Haul - Found New Treasures!

I went into 2024 with the intention of not purchasing any Japanese releases this year due to shipping costs. This was until I was having a bad week and thought bugger it, I'm doing it! Luckily the Japanese Yen was a good rate so I got some bargains and didn't lose out too much on conversion between the currencies. For this order, I focused on getting releases that were exclusive to Japan and not available on any streaming services. The service I used was Zenmarket of course and it was a simple process. Shipping wasn't too bad with the final cost of shipping it here being around $45 and I received it within two weeks. Everything was packed perfectly with lots of bubble wrap and no damages! In total, I ordered 25 CDs which is a good number and it was about $240 for all of this including all the fees and shipping within Japan.

Starting off with the main reason I placed this order which was these albums from m.o.v.e! I have been addicted to these albums for a while now and unfortunately they are hard to listen to here in Australia. The group isn't on Spotify nor does Australian iTunes have these specific releases. It has the singles but not the albums! So I was always listening to them on YouTube until I got sick of that and needed the physical CDs. These were various levels of difficult to get with their first album being the easiest and their third having barely any listings. So excited to have these in my collection and they sound amazing! In clockwise order from the left side, the albums I got from m.o.v.e where electrock, worlds of the mind and Operation Overload 7.

This was kind of an impulse buy as I love one particular song on this dream world album which is King & Queen. dream music is always difficult to come across and I thought I'd get the physical one as I enjoy the songs on this one. It was a pain to find as the title is so vague and I had to go through so many listings of other things to find this. Thank heavens the cover is red otherwise I wouldn't see the listings. Originally I wanted just the standard CD version but couldn't find one as all the listings were for the limited one. I wasn't too sure if the box was big or not however it is a decent size and you get lots of fun inclusions. There was even a calendar that I didn't know about!

My K-Pop Collection 2023

The end of 2023 is upon us and that means it is time to round up my K-Pop collection for another year. Pretty much only purchased Korean releases this year and no Japanese ones. Luckily I was able to obtain all the albums locally in my city. The main music store here which is JB Hi-Fi has a decent K-Pop collection and it was easy to find ones I was interested in. Let's get straight into it!

First off we have aespa who are the main group that i follow nowadays. I don't stan the group but I always make sure to get their new releases. Aespa is the only girl group that my local store stocks regularly and you can always find a few different versions. All of the albums shown except Girls are purchases in 2023. I pre-ordered My World and was fortunate enough to get the Zine version which was the one I wanted! Plus I got Ningning's photocard! I eventually found the World version at another JB Hi-Fi. The Drama albums are a recent purchase from last week and I wasn't too sure about getting them. Originally they were listed as online only and wouldn't be available in store. Then the listing changed and I was able to order them. It was impossible though to tell what the versions were so I did some research online. I got the big two photobook version and the what I believe is the retail exclusive version of the Giant one. It isn't the Target exclusive as it doesn't have the same inclusions and you get the English message photocard. It is pretty easy to buy other versions of aespa albums in store and it is always those poster versions which I'm not interested in. Just not at the price they are set at and I doubt it would drop.

Isn't this the most aesthetically pleasing photo of this post? So gorgeous and I love the hardbook structure of Red Velvet releases. Previously I only had four of these albums and got two new ones in 2023. Russian Roulette and Summer Magic are the new additions and I adore how they are the same size as the other smaller ones. Rookie is just chilling there being gigantic and The Red I've had forever. The store I brought it from isn't even around anymore.

This year I wasn't planning on collecting more releases from Oh My Girl but I lucked out with finding their latest mini album stocked in my local store. Seems such an old girl group to find so easily available. Love the design on these two albums and all the inclusions were gorgeous. I'm a big fan of bookmarks being included in albums recently as that is definitely something that I will use often. Also picked up their first mini album which I ordered specifically in as the price was quite reasonable.

September Favourites

Whilst September hasn't been the best month for me, it is nicer to be experiencing some warmer weather. It is slowly starting to warm up however the days are going from like 18 degrees to 31. Would prefer a slight increase there but hey at least it's not 40 degrees yet. I still working on fixing my computer so I should be back to regular blogging in October. I have the new part for my PC and it just needs to be installed and all switched over.

Beauty

Picked up a bag of DB Cosmetics recently at a local show and I forgot how much I liked this brand! I don't buy it as they only sell it in certain chemists which are ones I never go into. Thought it would be a good deal to get the bag which had a variety of items in it including lip products, beauty tools, nail polish and scrunchies. I'm super obsessed with scrunchies lately and I am always adding to my collection. There was a full sized eyeshadow palette in the bag as well and it is actually really good! The colours are pigmented and it has a nice colour story. The shimmers are to die for and hold together well when applied. Sometimes shimmers for me can experience fall out during the day (yes I do use primer!) but these stayed put. Definitely going to be using this palette more in the future as it had a great colour selection and is different from the other palettes in my collection.

Music

Good month K-Pop collecting wise! My local music store expanded there K-Pop section so I was able to pick up something new! I was super surprised to see they had gotten in Oh My Girl's new mini album Golden Hourglass and it was cool seeing an older group in with all the mainstream groups. I brought the WAVE version first and a few weeks later, I found the Light version at another store. Such a beautiful album and you get some cute inclusions with it. I really like how groups are starting to include bookmarks as I love collecting bookmarks. The store also had a few other girl groups that they normally don't stock like Itzy, New Jeans and NMIXX however I don't collect any of those. I did look up the albums to see if I liked the tracks but none took my interest.

Also found the Welcome To MY WORLD version of Aespa's 3rd Mini Album instore so now I have the set of both. I don't even want to think about all the other versions it comes in as it makes me sad :( I'm just happy that Aespa CD's are so easy to get here! Luckily I got Giselle's photocard and now I have a photocard of each member! I would've loved Ning Ning again but it is cool to own each member.

August Favourites

August was honestly not my month! I was super sick for a large portion of it and then my computer and phone broke as well. So I haven't been able to blog much and luckily I had some posts saved in drafts. I will be posting from the drafts until I can get a new hard drive to fix my computer. The favourites for August will be short as I'm attempting to post this from my phone whilst it is still barely alive.

Gaming

Played way too much Nintendo Switch this month with being sick. I've been into Hatsune Miku Jigsaw Puzzle and Calm Colours mostly along with some other random find it games. At the start of the month, I was playing We Love Katamari a lot which is super fun. They did a great job with the remaster and I prefer it over the first remake on the Switch.

Music

Randomly got this G-Idle mini album from JB Hi-Fi and everyone seems to be doing this magazine style cover with their releases. I know it's nothing new as K-Pop groups have been doing it for ages and I've noticed a lot of SM groups are having this design. The albums are so large they barely fit on the shelves at the music stores now. Haven't had a chance to listen to it yet due to computer issues but I have heard the title track is quite good.

Also had two orders come in this month that I had been excited for. First being the new The Hives album which I'm super pumped for. Cannot believe they released a new CD after so long! The other one is Big Time Rush's new album which is another I cannot believe it moment. I nearly died when I saw it up for preorder. Who would've thought the boys would bring out a new album in 2023? I do however hate how these are both in cardboard sleeve cases. Ugh these are my least favourite and hate storing them. I have been making a stack of all my newest CDs in this style of case and no idea where I'm going to put them.

Red Velvet Vol 1. The Red - Album Review

I thought I had done a Red Velvet review on the blog in the past however turns out I actually haven't! Red Velvet is a group that I used to be quite into but have dropped off in interest in recent years. Like I like their music, I just prefer their old stuff and that is mostly what I have in my collection. The Red album was the first Red Velvet CD that I got in my collection and I even recall buying their debut single Happiness on iTunes when it first came out. I used to post stacks of Red Velvet images on my Tumblr back in the day before Yeri joined and I'm sure I would post more now with Yeri as she is my bias in the group.

Vol. 1 The Red is the first full album from Korean girl group Red Velvet and it was released on September 9th 2015. The album only comes in one version from what I researched even though some sites list there being a blue and red version. I looked this up and couldn't see this supposed red version which is just the booklet inside the jewel case with a red background instead of blue. A version of the album was released in Taiwan in October and everything is the same with that one. For the photocard I got Irene who is the member I tend to get besides Yeri. Funny how you always end up pulling the same members. I brought my copy of The Red from a local (now sadly closed) K-Pop store and it came with the following contents:

• CD - 10 track album
• Sleevebox
• Jewel case
• 24 page lyric booklet
• 48 page photobook
• Photocard (Random 1 out of 6 types)

July Favourites

Apologies for the late posting of the monthly favourites for July and you can blame my computer for that one. I think a part in the tower is worn out/broken as the computer is struggling to do anything. Finally got it to load this morning without crashing so I shall try to post this before it dies again. July was a pretty busy month mainly with work. The weather has improved slightly as in its not freezing cold every day. There was one day with some crazy fog and it was a task to drive to work in it. Let's get onto the monthly favourites! Starting off with this cute Gomamon Pop Vinyl I got last weekend! I placed an order as soon as I saw it announced. Not the biggest Pop fan but I do like to pick them up when the figurine looks cute or is some IP that I love.

Gaming

Finally finished my One Year Challenge for New Style Boutique 3: Styling Star. It was a long journey and a lot of screenshots to post. Might take a short break from Style Boutique outfits as I'm worn out from it. I have been playing lots of other games in the meantime. Last month I talked about Pretty Princess Party which I have been playing a fair bit. Not as much as the sequel Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island! I brought it on sale and been playing it every day since. It's basically an Animal Crossing clone where you are on an island and do random activities like fishing, catching bugs and crafting stuff. Absolutely love how easy it is to move buildings and bridges in the game. Animal Crossing needs to get on that level. 

Besides a stack of digital games, I also picked up a few new physical games for the switch. I got the remake of We Love Katamari and Little Friends: Puppy Island. Only played the Katamari one so far and it is amazing. I had played the original one on the PS2 but this port is way better. Always fun to roll around and pick up random stuff. Haven't tried out Little Friends yet however it did come with some cute joy-con grips. They look great on my Nintendo Switch and are quite nice to play with.

T-ARA 11th Mini Album So Good - Album Review

Considering how much I love T-ARA, I actually don't have many of their releases in my K-Pop collection. Most of their music I brought digitally over the years and never looked for the physical ones. Such a solid discography from one of the best girl groups and their Japanese stuff is amazing as well. I've reviewed some of their Japanese albums before but today will be the first Korean album. Let's start off with T-ARA's So Good mini album.

So Good is the 11th Mini Album from Korean girl group T-ARA and it was released on August 4th 2015. This mini is also known as their 7th mini album as that is the number if you don't count repackages. And T-ARA had a lot of mini album repackages! I've got with calling it the 11th as that is the number stated on the front cover. I purchased my copy of So Good from a Korean store in town which has sadly shut down. I remember being so excited to see it on the shelf as I thought T-ARA wasn't popular enough to be stock here. You don't get much with this release and the contents are limited to:

• CD - 5 track mini album
• 80 page photobook

June Favourites

June has definitely been the fastest month of 2023 as I felt like I blinked and missed the entire thing. It feels like we were only just at the beginning and now it's the 3rd of July. June was a crazy month weather wise here with lots of rain and storms. There was an intense cold front which was horrible as I cannot stand the cold weather and having to wear thermals constantly. The rain hasn't been bad the last few days however it is going all next week. Anyway here is a cute pic of Pudge at his birthday this month in my Animal Crossing town. Too adorable!!!

Gaming

There was a good sale recently on the e-shop so I picked up some new titles. Mainly puzzle games as that is my favourite genre on the switch. I did get Pixel Paint 2 as I loved the first one except it doesn't work well with a stylus. So disappointing as the game is a billion times better using the stylus to colour. Whenever I try to use the stylus like I would in the first game, it just moves the screen around. So I haven't played that one much as colouring using the joy-cons is so boring and tedious. Also picked up the Island Cities game which is the sequel to Island Farmer. Another great game on the console and I've almost finished the Cities one already. A sequel Pretty Princess Party was released and it made me remember that I actually brought the first one and forgot. So silly and I cannot believe I hadn't played it until now. Only played a small bit as I've been busy and it is quite fun. Very cute and the mini games are exciting.

Books

Thought I would bring in a new section to the monthly favourites as all I tend to do nowadays read. Lately I've been kind of bored with Youtube so I decided to try out listening to an audiobook. I've always stayed away from them as I thought they would be difficult to follow and remind me of podcasts which my brain doesn't like listening to. So far I've listened to three Agatha Christie books and I'm hooked! I'm a big fan of mystery stories and these are enjoyable to play in the background whilst I do stuff. Plus I can add the reading stats to my Goodreads and Storygraph apps with the later having some great audiobook tracking.

Music

Has anyone else been watching Queendom Puzzle? I wasn't too sure about following it at first because I didn't enjoy Girls Planet 999. But some of the girls on the show are from my favourites groups so I tuned into the first episode. Now I'm hooked and have been taking part in the voting. Juri from Rocket Punch is my number one pick then I've been voting for Yeonhee as well.

TWICE 5th Mini Album What Is Love? - Album Review (B Version)

Ok who doesn't love the amount of inclusions you get in TWICE releases!? Just look at this all this cute stuff their What Is Love? mini album comes with! That is what I will be reviewing today as I thought it was time to post some mini albums from TWICE. This is a group that I have a few pieces from and they always look rather lovely on the shelf. The shop I ordered this from was sent a random version and I ended up with the B version. I quite like the cover of the A version but hey I'm happy with whatever just because it's TWICE!

What Is Love? is the fifth mini album from Korean girl group TWICE who we all know by now cause they are megastars. The mini album was released on April 10th 2018 and came in two versions: A and B. I purchased my copy through JB Hi-Fi as a special order and received it in a timely manner. It is always so fun opening a TWICE album to see what extras you get. What Is Love? comes with the following contents:

• CD - 6 track mini album (Random 1 out of 9 member plates)
• Photobook
• Photocards (Random 5 out of 90)
• Scratch card (Random 1 out of 9)
• Clear postcard (Random 1 out of 9)
• Random sticker (Random 1 out of 9)
• Lyrics booklet

BLACKPINK 2nd Mini Album KILL THIS LOVE - Album Review (Pink Ver.)

Back for another BLACKPINK review with the pink version of their 2nd Mini. I reviewed the black version earlier and it feels so fulfilling when you have a complete set of an album. I don't achieve it often with Korean releases as there is usually a few editions and can be a pricey endeavour. Plus the groups I usually collect didn't do multiple versions. BLACKPINK is one of the few groups where I have complete sets which is only their mini albums but I'm calling that a success.

KILL THIS LOVE is the 2nd Mini Album from Korean girl group BLACKPINK and it was released on April 23rd 2019. The mini album was released in two versions: Black and Pink. Both versions were easy to find through JB Hi-Fi and I purchased them a few years ago. The thing I love about this mini album is that it sits nicely on the shelf and the box is great for holding all the extras inside. Usually I'm not a big fan of box style albums however this one works great. The contents of this mini album are as follows:

• CD - 5 track mini album
• Outer Box
• 52 page Photobook
• Photozine
• Accordion Lyrics booklet
• Photocards (Random 4 out of 16)
• Polaroid Photocard (Random 1 out of 8)
• Stickers (Set of 6)
• Poster (Random 1 out of 4)

BLACKPINK 2nd Mini Album KILL THIS LOVE - Album Review (Black Ver.)

BLACKPINK is a group that I casually collect much like TWICE. Their releases are easy to purchase at local music stores so I tend to pick them up if the price is good. A few years ago I ended up collecting both versions of their 2nd Mini Album KILL THIS LOVE and that is what we will be looking at today. And lots of lovely photos are included as you get some great inclusions with this release.

KILL THIS LOVE is the 2nd Mini Album from Korean girl group BLACKPINK and it was released on April 23rd 2019. The mini album was released in two versions: Black and Pink. I brought both versions from JB HiFi where I found one colour at my local store and after ringing around, I found the other colour at a nearby store. This mini album has a large number of contents which are as follows:

• CD - 5 track mini album
• Outer Box
• 52 page Photobook
• Photozine
• Accordion Lyrics booklet
• Photocards (Random 4 out of 16)
• Polaroid Photocard (Random 1 out of 8)
• Stickers (Set of 6)
• Poster (Random 1 out of 4)