EMPTIES: November 2016

BELIF Peat Miracle Revital Eye Cream sample - My mum gave me this. I loved this cream because it feels super thick and creamy and emollient and felt very soothing on my eye area. It could have lasted me 3-4 uses but too bad I accidentally used too much and it only lasted me 1-2 uses. I'm bad with these sachet style samples. I am currently using another eye cream deluxe sample and I might purchase the full size of this when that's gone.

 

BELIF The true anti-aging essence deluxe sample - My mum gave me this. In fact she gave me a buttload of these K-beauty skincare samples even before I knew what to do with them. I thought this was a refreshing essence. I will probably buy the full size of this at one point but I am still new to Korean skincare routine and its products.

BELIF Bergamot herbal extract toner deluxe sample -  My mum gave me this.  It's really hydrating even though it's geared towards oily skin. I might purchase the full size version in the future.

THE FACE SHOP THE SOLUTION Brightening Face Mask - This month marked the first month I seriously bought more expensive Korean sheet masks for myself, and I was impressed ...realized you get what you pay for! The serum is very thick and there is a lot of it, and the face mask fits the planes of my face very well.  I really enjoyed this and will continue to repurchase from the line.  It's still considered mid-range in price. 

THE FACE SHOP Real Nature Peony mask - This was one of the series of sheet masks given to me by my mum. It's one of the cheaper ones and I wasn't as enamoured by these. The serum didn't feel as thick or as generous and most importantly the mask didn't fit very well. Maybe I left it for a bit too long.

THE FACE SHOP Heaven Grade Ginseng Essence - My mum gave this to me. It's nice but I think it was too small for me to have an opinion on it either way.

INNISFREE skin clinic mask PEPTIDE - Thick serum and sheet mask that fit very snugly, very similar to The Face Shop mid-price masks. It's one of those sheet masks from the mid-priced line from Innisfree too.

INNISFREE skin clinic mask BHA - Same as above. I feel like my face was smoother after using this mask.

SEPHORA COLLECTION Green Tea Sleeping Mask - Claims to "Absorbs excess sebum and purifies for a matte, clean complexion." I read reviews from other users and they said they got 2 uses out of this, but I got 3.5-4 uses out of these masks. I don't know why, maybe I don't use that much? Anyway my face really felt less oily when I woke up after using this.

SEPHORA COLLECTION Orchid Sleeping Mask - Claims to "Reduces the appearance of wrinkles and signs of aging while moisturizing for skin that appears smoother and firmer." My face also felt less oily when I woke up after using this too, so maybe it wasn't just the formula specific to the green tea line?

ELIZABETH ARDEN Flawless Start Instant Perfecting Primer - My mum gave me tons of sample sachets and a deluxe size sample tube of this, and I didn't care for much for it at first but it now is really starting to grow on me. I think it pairs really well if used with a mattifying primer. Made my face feel really smooth!

 REDKEN All Soft Supple Touch Softening Cream-Spray - The description claims: "Lightweight moisturizing softening hair treatment spray for dry and brittle hair that gives hair shine and added manageability." and that's why I bought this spray, though I don't think it performed as it claims/ I expected.  Maybe it's because my hair had been bleached to hell and back and it's so damaged and felt so dry and crispy, and it needs far more than this to get it back into shape. By the end of the bottle I felt like my hair is beginning to feel softer, but I have been also using many other products.  I don't hate it, but overall I'm not too impressed and won't be buying this again.

 URBAN DECAY Naked Skin Weightless Ultra Definition Liquid Makeup in 3.5 - I had this lying around in my makeup vanity for about a year now. I got this sample as I bought my Naked palettes. I guess I left it this long before using it because I wasn't sure if the shade will match my skin, and also I don't really tend to use traditional liquid foundations.  This foundation is medium coverage  and build able, and I would have gotten 2 uses out of this if I didn't kind of mess it up and squeezed out too much.  It felt amazing! It's really as weightless as it claims and it controlled oil really well, too! My face was less oily by the end of that day than the other days.  It also didn't look cakey.  I'll definitely consider buying this and other Urban Decay foundations in the future.

BURT'S BEES Almond & Milk Hand Cream - I bought this 25th June this year, so it took around 4.5 months for me to go through this. I loved the smell and how thick and creamy it was! The performance was above average. I'd definitely consider repurchasing this in the future but for now I want to move on and try other hand creams.

KIEHL'S Damage Repairing & Rehydrating Shampoo sample - It's nice but it's too little for me to say anything either way.

 KIEHL'S Damage Repairing & Rehydrating Conditioner sample - same as above.

KIEHL'S Damage Repairing & Rehydrating Leave-In Treatment sample - I think this was nice. I could notice a difference. I might buy the full size in the future.

KIEHL'S Calendula Herbal-Extract Toner deluxe sample - It's so soothing and it smelled so nice.  It smells like putting chrysanthemum tea on my skin! It made me go on a chrysanthemum tea bender. So soothing and refreshing! I'd definitely repurchase this, but not soon.

KIEHL'S Midnight Recovery Concentrate deluxe sample - I love the smell of this, it's lavender and it's soothing and my skin feels softer and smoother when I wake up the nights that I use this. I'll repurchase this in the next few days. December is my birthday month and I'll get 10% discount!

Eyelash curler - it's one of those crap cheap eyelash curlers that did nothing, despite having recently changed the rubber band. Bleh!

FLORALE Nettoyante Corps Body Wash Lily of the Valley & Peach deluxe sample - My mum gave this to me. This lasted a long time even though ti doesn't look like a big bottle!

MAYBELLINE 2-In-1 Impact Shadow Liner - I had this for like, 3 years now! It took so long for me to use it. I bought this when I was trying to find a white eyeliner pencil, just a bit before I discovered the cult favourite NYX Jumbo eye pencil in Milk.  I hated this pencil!  It's not pigmented and it did nothing when applied to the waterline.  It's discontinued now but even if it wasn't, I'd definitely not repurchase. Also it's shimmery which I didn't like. I wanted a matte eyeliner pencil and couldn't find anything better at that time.

HAULS: November 2016

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday, this month's haul is much bigger than usual. I know I blew a whole lot of money this month. My bank account is crying but but...I just love and want and have to have these eyeshadow palettes! Blame YouTube XD.

OGX Renewing Argan Oil of Morocco Intense Moisturising Treatment

OGX Thick & Full Biotin & Collagen Weightless Healing Oil Treatment - So far I'm very impressed by this. I think the combination of oil & collagen is really good for my hair.

INNISFREE Green Tea Fresh Skin - I was so confused. All this while I thought this was a toner, but this product is called a 'skin'? I heard they're two different products in K-skincare speak. The website uses the term skin and toner interchangeably. Maybe skin is another term for a hydrating toner (the Asian concept of toner), as opposed to the Western cleansing/astringent toner?

 INNISFREE Green Tea Fresh Essence - hydrates and nourishes while controlling sebum.

 INNISFREE Skin Clinic Mask in Peptide and BHA

 INNISFREE The Green Tea Seed Special Kit - a deluxe sample set that I got because they had a promotion which gave out this set if I spent over $50 in a single purchase. It consists of: serum, cream and eye cream.  I'm currently using the eye cream.

INNISFREE Jeju volcanic pore scrub foam

BOURJOIS Contour Edition Lip Pencil in 07 Cherry - I was looking for a dark red lip pencil and I swatched this in store and fell in love with it right away; it was so pigmented, smooth and creamy. Far better than the MAC lip pencil I used to use years ago (I don't use a lot of lip pencils so that's the only point of reference I have).

 

BECCA Ever Matte Poreless Priming Perfector - I was so chuffed that this arrived just in time just as my MUFE mattifying primer is about to run out! Heard amazing things about this, and as it's bought on Black Friday it's a much better value than the MUFE primer as well.

AUSTRALIS Velourlips in Mel-burn - I guess we all need a black lipstick in our collection these days (why oh why weren't they as ubiquitous when I was in my goth days!? HMPH)...but I didn't find it to be black enough so I bought the NYX black lip liner to help with it, which is the next entry:

 NYX Suede Matte Lip Liner in Alien

THE FACE SHOP The Solution Face Masks in Soothing, Hydrating, Nourishing, Brightening and Pore Care.

 

THE FACE SHOP The Therapy First Essence - my mum is a VIP member of The Face Shop and was really selling this to me. She was even kind enough to buy this for me as well. She really convinced me to buy it saying that it's good and putting this on makes everything else go on really smoothly after. This first essence comes with a pack of cotton pads that are embedded with find jade particles that "act as a mild exfoliant to leave to skin clean and refined." Apparently they work synergistically if used together.

THE FACE SHOP The Therapy deluxe sample set - came with the purchase because my mum bought a lot of other stuff too! Set includes, from left to right: first essence, cream and foaming cleanser.

NOW comes the good part! :) My Sephora Black Friday haul!

TOO FACED Natural Matte palette

TOO FACED Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar palette

 KAT VON D Shade & Light Eye Contour palette

URBAN DECAY Naked Ultimate Basics

TARTE Tartelette palette

TARTE Tartelette In Bloom palette

ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS Modern Renaissance palette. This isn't from Sephora, and it's my most coveted purchase this month. It was out of stock for a long time and was SO incredibly hard to get. I bought this from a local online shop immediately as I was notified of it being restocked, and in 45 minutes it was out of stock again!

 And here it is all together! :D :D :D Aren't they just SO beautiful? :D