:3

The title is written right-to-left and says "부용의 상사곡" which translates to "The <Flower's> Song of Mutual Love and Affection" which is just that much more adorable.





The story is about a extraordinarily beautiful woman who falls in love with a scholar, who then has to leave for the capital to take an important exam; leaving her behind and alone, patiently waiting for his return.



(If you have ever seen any K-dramas set in historical eras, these ‘exams’ make a frequent appearance and are always very serious matters that seem more like trying to pass the bar or defending your dissertation than the tests we take in university.)



While her husband is away for this critical and unavoidable matter, her phenomenal beauty attracts the unwanted interest of the village headman, and being unable to protect herself with her husband away, she decides to throw herself into the river to protect her virtue and remain true to her husband, choosing death over defilement. (Welp, that's depressing, but not unexpected, considering how these kinds of folktales go.)



However, unlike most stories in this vein, this one has a happy ending; someone rescues her from the river before she drowns and she is eventually happily reunited with her husband. :3



The flowers are named after her, as they are said to be as beautiful as she; it makes perfect sense that the brand is named after a flower associated with a legendary beauty.



What I've learned about the set so far





Unfortunately I haven’t been able to learn much more about Princess Jeonghyo; she has a mausoleum associated with her , which is pictured at right. If sketchy Google translate efforts are to be believed, supposedly she had a very renowned beauty routine and was lovely, regal, and elegant- I suppose that alone is a good reason to name a skincare line after her!





As remains of horses were found in the tomb, she was either very fond of of them or was a noted horsewoman herself. Either way, she doesn't seem to be a particularly significant figure in Korean history; some of the Koreans I've spoken with vaguely recalled the folktale of Bouillon Sangsagok, but had never heard of Princess Jeonghyo.



As I work through my translations and particularly the ingredients, I have discovered that fermentation is a major focus of this line. The plant extracts are fermented with things like lactobacillus and saccharomyces in bamboo casks (대나무통) using traditional Hanbang (Korean herbal medicine) techniques. If you have heard of SK-II, they’re famous for using fermentation in their products, so ironically, the fermentation bonanza of this set is right in the hot zone of current Asian beauty trends.



As I mentioned in my last post, the 6 pieces of the set are:

수액 - Sap 유액 - Lotion 아이크림 - Eye Cream 자생크림 - Wild (herb/flower) cream 백수오 활력 크림- Cynanchum wilfordii Vitality cream 석류팩 - Pomegranate Pack Originally I thought I would use them in this order, and that the Sap would be like a First Essence (such as the Missha First Treatment Essence or SK-II), the “Milky Lotion” would be well, a ‘milk’ type/texture emulsion or essence, and that since the translated directions for the Cynanchum wilfordii Vitality cream was to use it as a final step like a sleeping pack, well, that’s what I’d do.



But, that was before I’d used them for a week.



My initial thoughts of the products



The Sap is actually a very rich, ‘hydrating toner’ type of product, which is more like a light serum. It’s clear, spreads easily, and soaks in relatively quickly. Has a noticeable fragrance.



The Lotion is surprisingly very thick, requiring a few ketchup-bottle-style whacks to get the product out, but once is does, it flows out quickly and is very stringy, exactly like latex paint- an irony which is not lost on me considering that google translated this as ‘latex’ in the first place. Maybe it was onto something? Anyway, this is my least favourite product from the bunch.



The Eye Cream is a standard eye cream, I have nothing positive or negative to say about it as I’m not a huge eye cream user. It’s not unpleasant to apply or wear. As I work through my translations and particularly the ingredients, I have discovered that fermentation is a major focus of this line. The plant extracts are fermented with things likeandin bamboo casks (대나무통) using traditional Hanbang (Korean herbal medicine) techniques. If you have heard of SK-II, they’re famous for using fermentation in their products, so ironically, the fermentation bonanza of this set is right in the hot zone of current Asian beauty trends.As I mentioned in my last post, the 6 pieces of the set are:Originally I thought I would use them in this order, and that the Sap would be like a First Essence (such as the Missha First Treatment Essence or SK-II), the “Milky Lotion” would be well, a ‘milk’ type/texture emulsion or essence, and that since the translated directions for the Cynanchum wilfordii Vitality cream was to use it as a final step like a sleeping pack, well, that’s what I’d do.But, that was before I’d used them for a week.Theis actually a very rich, ‘hydrating toner’ type of product, which is more like a light serum. It’s clear, spreads easily, and soaks in relatively quickly. Has a noticeable fragrance.Theis surprisingly very thick, requiring a few ketchup-bottle-style whacks to get the product out, but once is does, it flows out quickly and is very stringy, exactly like latex paint- an irony which is not lost on me considering that google translated this as ‘latex’ in the first place. Maybe it was onto something? Anyway, this is my least favourite product from the bunch.Theis a standard eye cream, I have nothing positive or negative to say about it as I’m not a huge eye cream user. It’s not unpleasant to apply or wear.





The Wild [flower/herb] Cream surprised me as it’s a very heavy, occlusive, traditional cream. I now use this at the very end, and only in my dry areas, because otherwise it will block anything else from soaking into my skin. Smells like generic face cream with a hint of flowers and herbs.





Cynanchum wilfordii Vitality cream - the box is so gorgeous

The Cynanchum wilfordii Vitality cream is the stand out of the bunch; it’s supposed to be a sleeping pack based off the directions I translated last time, as is the Pomegranate Pack (which I have not used yet as they're the same step) but I have swapped the order. I find this cream to be a delicious combination of ultra hydrating with a little occlusive goodness mixed in; applying it feels so good my eyes roll back in my head a bit.



Not only that, but it somehow reset my winter-dry skin and I no longer get dry patches; it does keep my skin feel hydrated all day or night, and I'm impressed. It has the generic cream smell plus a ginseng-y, herbal note to it that may bother some.





My translation progress





Oh god, what have I got myself into. Apparently if one is planning on learning Korean, one should not pick a 한방 (Hanbang) set as a first attempt, because not only is there a deliberate avoidance of 'modern' (or English loan) words, ultra flowery and stylized language, the ingredients are primarily traditional Korean herbs so there's no easy English equivalents because they're native Korean plants.





It has taken me hours every day to just transcribe the ingredients alone, because welp, you know all those translate apps and converter programs that read an image into text and/or translate it for you? Well, here's what they come up with for the ingredients:

jipssingkum done Kim Jae-soo, glycerine peullidesan saikeulleu denti ryukssyo siikolloek facilities, butyl / sillokssin Kuah 0 kumgyulla to Hamid ttukssaaegiruryeya silleukssin / panty Cetearyl alcohol abuse saikeulleu dimechaeun, Holly sorbate 60 l rengnangdiye 2 Kohn would help break dance pyoraep ′ dullai a krill, Ami, or the Mula-Mutha river, / but four big kkip isopi, Pokpim / ryaduswaeseu ryeiteu Glyceryl Steger Arie embryo - the key soreubitanseu kkobaksseong Technically / ppeoteu kkweeseutearye Jjiteu diyechikon. sodeum side of low-grade rice , and Ruhr Nate ′ kabeumeo teuraetanyol Aman berian konjorong ppuep, Nominated for the cane to a real hit , puppepok jochujumtyul paribin allanteuyan tokopyeril acetate professional red bean pararendeulleu, Ppaejokssyan, Lou seven hamneueeraapjjop′ chunghajeu the mycelium / - nunkkotol hisuo balhyochuol you could please take enzyme yeogwameul, Heunsseongsyankuku yeogwatyul, a Chinese matrimony vine / Russ ryakteubikssil yeogwameul, entered into force chuyulbul heumo / neukchaju chulbalho the filter, ` 4 ' hyeochyeotem yeogwatteul ′ ryaktonyangnep / Russ, pomegranates, fermented chuyulhol rakteu machiyeon / Bacillus Balkh, - ppaemoejikumbamhyochwetyul ′ hyomeu / hwanbaekppal hyochueutppumgat rakteu yeast. / / Bacillus jieomdelhyochu, swaeppaetttukssing The truth is that / / Homo Russ batyochuchungmom ′ write / Bree's yeast / Russ seupeojil chueutppul, asclepias

So ... yeah. According to the usual translation resources people recommend to mePlus, 80%+ of it couldn't be translated to English, and the parts thattranslated are ... uh ... well, you can see it's not going to work.Clearly this would not do.