Last month started innocently enough. My friend Vivian and I took a trip to Pacific Mall because neither of us had been there in a while. I needed a new phone case, anyway, and we wanted to get some tasty Asian snacks (curry fish balls, curry beef balls, egg puff waffles, Hokkaido milk tea...). Of course, what neither of us had anticipated was the onslaught of new beauty stores. Seriously, it seems like every other store belonged to some ridiculously cutesy Korean cosmetics brand. And resistance was futile. Case in point: Tony Moly.
Tony Moly Peach, Apple, and Banana Milk Hand Creams
Tony Moly Floria Body Cream and Panda's Dream White Hand Cream
Tony Moly Dust Out Multi Foam Cleanser and Egg Pore Deep Cleansing Foam
Tony Moly Pocket Bunny Sleek Mist and Moist Mist
It's Skin Mini Bebe Hand Cream in Banila Cotton and Fresh Lime
See, the thing about Korean beauty brands is that they're affordable and housed in the most ridiculously cute packaging so that you want all the things. Hand creams in the shape of fruit and cartoon animals? Yes. Face mists in bunny spray bottles? Yes. And body creams and face cleansers on sale for under $5 a pop? Yes. Plus, the nice salesgirl working there gave us free mask sheets (seaweed for purifying and lemon for brightening), and a tube of shea hand cream from their last holiday collection. We also stopped by another Korean beauty store called It's Skin, where we were again tempted by all the things. I picked up two more hand creams, because you know, I go through that stuff like water, and these ones are obnoxiously cute. And they were on sale for $3. But I told Vivian to ban me from even glancing at the make-up, because I know I would never have left the mall.
Joe Fresh Powder Blush in Peach Dream, Radiant Rosette, and Smitten
Joe Fresh Nail Polish in Kaleidoscope and Gold Rush
L'Oréal Voluminous Power 24H and Voluminous Miss Manga Black Angel Mascaras
I'm not usually huge on drugstore make-up, but once in a while, I like to see what's new and exciting and on sale. Viv and I found ourselves on a late-night jaunt to Loblaws for the sole purpose of getting snacks, cheese, coffee, and orange juice, and I came out instead with three new Joe Fresh blushes (they finally came out with shimmery ones!), two new Joe Fresh nail polishes (they finally came out with new finishes!), and two new tubes of L'Oréal mascara (on sale for $7.99 each!). As I said, I'm a sucker.
Shiseido Ibuki Refining Moisturizer, Pureness Matifying Moisturizer, and Pureness Deep Cleansing Foam
My friend who works for Shiseido offered me a 30% discount, so I took the opportunity to stock up on some skincare for warmer weather. I got the Ibuki Refining Moisturizer to use as my night cream, a bottle of Pureness Matifying Moisturizer as my day cream (I've used it before and love the lightweight texture of it), and a new tube of Pureness Deep Cleansing Foam which I've totally fallen in love with again. It's weird, I used to use Shiseido skincare almost exclusively at one point and I stopped using them in my late teens to try other brands, but even though I keep experimenting with different brands to this day, I keep going back to Shiseido and I just noticed that I am always using at least one Shiseido product at any given point. Weird that I don't talk about them more often.
YSL Rouge Pur Couture Lipstick in 10 Beige Tribute and 6 Rose Bergamasque
YSL Rouge Volupté Shine Lipstick in 31 Rose Innocent & 9 Nude in Private and Rouge Volupté Lipstick in 1 Nude Beige & 3 Ultimate Beige
And then all the YSL happened. I got a bonus paycheque from work and was all, "Yay! Celebrate!" So I walked into Sephora and promptly started swatching because, you know, that's how I celebrate. I ended up getting two Rouge Pur Couture lipsticks and one Rouge Volupté, all in nude/MLBB shades because you might have noticed that I am in a phase right now. Then a week later, I got a coupon from Hudson's Bay for $20 off any $100 cosmetics purchase. So I went on the website and ordered three more YSL lipsticks, including another Rouge Volupté, plus two shades of Rouge Volupté Shine (it was really between them and those new Burberry Kisses, but I wanted to see some more reviews of it first). I did not need a single one, but god, are they pretty.
MAC Cinderella Iridescent Pressed Powder in Coupe D'Chic and Beauty Powder in Mystery Princess
MAC Bao Bao Wan Nail Lacquer in Imperial Green and Kashmir Blue, Beauty Powder in Summer Opal, and Lipstick in Lavender Jade, Forbidden Sunrise, and Burmese Kiss
MAC Mineralize Eyeshadow in Natural Vigor, Mattene Lipstick in Seductive Intent, and Lipstick in Very Berry Red, Show Orchid, Enjoy It All!, Fun Fun, and Myself
And, as you may have already seen, I bought stuff from MAC's Cinderella (reviews here and here) and Bao Bao Wan collections (reviews here and here). Vivian went to the Estée Lauder warehouse sale this past weekend as well (I couldn't make it), and got me a bunch of goodies from various charity bags that she got doubles of, including a really nice champagne and gold Mineralize Eyeshadow from the Lightness of Being collection, my favourite Mattene Lipstick in a gorgeous magenta-purple from the Taste Temptation collection (which I already have, so this will be my back-up), plus a bunch of lipsticks (including Show Orchid, which is permanent, and two shades, Very Berry Red and Enjoy It All!, that were probably mislabeled because I haven't heard of them before).
God, the Sephora VIB sale is this month. I'm screwed.
lol i love how most of these start with looking for food and finding makeup
ReplyDeleteFood and make-up are really the only two things that matter to me, lol.
DeleteYour hauls are THE BEST.
ReplyDeleteI need to hit Pacific Mall again. But I remember getting pretty tired by the time I got to Tony Moly so I ignored all that cuteness - don't even remember seeing them - but I have the shopping bug again and want ALL THE THINGS.
Lol, thanks! :D
DeleteI'm not sure when Tony Moly opened at PMall, though it wasn't there the last time I went there either (sometime last summer, I think), so it's possible that it's new. We should do PMall together, Liz!
Yeah, let's go! We can text to set up a time. :)
DeleteI'm typically off on Sundays and Wednesdays, so let me know when is good for you!
DeleteLol! Splendid as always, Denise.
ReplyDeleteI don't go for a lot of drugstore makeup either, because it's hard to test shades and make returns, but L'oreal makes some of my favorite mascaras. I'm using Butterfly right now and I quite like it!
Haha, thanks -- you know, at the beginning of every month, I never intend on spending so much and then by the end of the month, I somehow end up with bags of random stuff that I didn't need... :P
DeleteI'd say that in the drugstore mascara world, L'Oreal makes my favourites, too. I didn't get Butterfly because I don't like plastic brush heads, but I've heard it's very good for separation!