EMPTIES: April 2017

A LOT of full sized empties this month! Which is not surprising considered it's been many months since I started to really use full size products.

Face Cream: I vacillated between wanting to repurchase this and not and decided that yes, I will repurchase this, but not soon since I want to try out other face creams first. This is good as a basic face cream.

 Hand Cream: Sure, why not!

Vitamin C: I've noticed that my complexion is a lot more radiant and even, with freckles and PIH faded after using this. I will definitely repurchase this after my current Kiehl's has run out. It's also the fraction of the price of Kiehl's.

 Hair Serum: pretty good. I don't have any complaints. I might repurchase this but I want to try out other brands first.

Foaming Cleanser: I would not repurchase this because the pH is too high.

Makeup: This mascara lasted A LONG TIME. I bought this when I was in Sweden in September and I only finished this in mid-April!? So 7 months! I don't think anyone should be using mascara for this long though.

 Hydrating Toner: Maybe.

 Body Scrub: It's a good basic body scrub. No complaints. This is a repurchase and I will buy again.

 Sheet Masks: My face doesn't seem so dry this month so I haven't been using sheet masks as much. Also I've been using the Lumene gel mask which replaced a lot of the sheet masks.

 Shampoo: Will not repurchase.

 Body Moisturiser: Will definitely not repurchase the Queen Helene Cocoa Butter creme on the right, but maybe for the other two.

 Body Wash: Will not repurchase since the perfume is too strong.

 Hair Mask: Will repurchase this.

Sunscreen: I will repurchase both and in fact have the Biore watery gel stockpiled.

HAULS: April 2017

I guess I am in a stockpiling mode this month since I am moving to Sweden next month and everything shown here won't be available there.  Especially important are the Asian sunscreens, which are 1000x more cosmetically elegant than their western counterparts, and hydrating toners which is much harder to find a western equivalent of. Once you use Asian sunscreens, you'll not want to go back to greasy, white, sticky sort of western sunscreens again.  I bought this much skin/hydrating toner because I plan to lotion/ DIY sheet mask regularly (or even do a 3- or 7- skin method) once I'm there. I don't want to  bring so many sheet masks there since I'm starting to realise how much waste conventional sheet masking produces, and I'm trying to be a more conscious consumer.

A lot of these products came from Koreadepart.  The reason I used them is because I currently live in their "fixed-cost" zone, meaning that if I buy a certain amount then shipping is free, so I bought enough to get free shipping via EMS.  The prices are so much cheaper than getting the exact same products in brick-and-mortar stores in Singapore.  Shipping is quick, too. I placed order on 20th April, shipped 26th April and arrived on the afternoon of 28th April. Will definitely purchase again!

HADA LABO Gokujyun Hydrating Perfect Gel is marketed as multi-functional.  Here in Singapore, the product is marketed as 3-in-1; essence, moisturiser and sleeping mask. On the Hada Labo USA website however, it's marketed as 5-in-1; lotion, milk, cream, serum and mask.  One has to wonder why Hada Labo even bother to produce other products in that line? Might as well just produce this and be done with it. 

HADA LABO Super Hyaluronic Acid Premium Hydrating Lotion  OMG IT FINALLY CAME TO SINGAPORE! I did not hesitate to grab it the minute I saw them on the shelves of pharmacies here. I saw the glowing (heh) reviews on Fifty Shades of Snail blog and was kind of sad that it wasn't in Singapore considering how it's been out for quite a few years in Japan now and contemplated buying it and the milk online.

HADA LABO Super Hyaluronic Acid Premium Hydrating Milk

HADA LABO Super Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Lotion and Gokujyun Hydrating Perfect Gel Bought these for my boyfriend to see if he likes them.  If not then I'm happy to use them.

SULWHASOO Overnight Vitalising Mask EX My second purchase! I don't wanna be without it.

INNISFREE Orchid Skin

INNISFREE Green Tea Balancing Skin

INNISFREE Jeju Lava Seawater Skin

INNISFREE The Green Tea Seed Serum

INNISFREE Special Care Mask (hand) I love these masks so much

BELIF Manology 101 Smart Recharger For my boyfriend because it's his favourite.

DAISO Makeup Brush Cleaner Not makeup nor skincare but closely related!  One of the Youtube beauty blogger raves about a Daiso brush cleaner. I'm not sure if this is the same one but I bought this just to see what it's about.

SEPHORA Sugar Body Scrub My body scrub for the month.

MUJI Anti-Aging Pre Lotion It was on discount so I'm buying just to test it out.  First time buying Muji skincare.

MAC Lipstick in Velvet Teddy I'm trying to phase out MAC because the brand is tested on animals but I had 6 MAC empties, so I exchanged them for this one.

BIORE Aqua Rich Smooth Watery Gel SPF 50+ PA++++ When Biore phased out this for their reformulated 2017 version I had to round up all of these that were in stores! I heard that their new formula is very bad in terms of sun protection. I think I bought enough to last me a couple of years esp in Swedish sun.

 

BIORE UV Anti-Pollution Body Care Serum Extra Moist SPF 50+ PA++++ Their new sunscreen, which is also a lot cheaper than their Aqua Rich series, also in a much larger tube (150 ml vs. 90 g).  It also gives nearly the same weightless feel. To be honest, if I knew about this I probably wouldn't have panic-bought all those Aqua Rich gels :/. Oh well! No regrets as I'm going to use them all anyway.

EMPTIES: March 2017

From having a one quick glance over this month's empties I've concluded that stores here give me almost enough samples for me to live on :P

EDIT 10/4/2017 - forgot a few things so I added them on.

Sunscreen.  I think it's time I retire this sunscreen.  I used to use it thinking that the Watery Gel didn't suit my face because it dried me up pretty badly, but it turned out that that wasn't the case; my face was just trying to adjust to the retinoid I put on it. The Watery Gel works just fine now and I'm just going to stick to it and not this.  There's a lot more product for the same price in the Gel.

Facial Oil.  I used it up relatively quickly because I don't like it that much.  It just smelled a bit 'off', so I ended up putting it on my body too to use it up more quickly.

Body Scrub.  It's ok but it's a bit milder than what I'm used to in scrubs.  It's not bad but it didn't really wow me, so would probably not repurchase.

Hair Treatment.  Not much to say. I like the smell. I am not sure if I will buy the full size.

Makeup.  I enjoyed them while they lasted but probably won't buy either again.  Maybelline Fit Me concealer was considered holy grail by many, but it was just meh for me.  It's runny and doesn't provide enough coverage. I am loving their Age Rewind a lot more.

Hair Dye.  Yet another tub gone :D. I repurchased Rubine after this, because to be honest I'm struggling to see a difference. Will come back to this anyway.

Body Cream. I would not buy this, it's way too strongly perfumed and too thin to be really meaningfully moisturising.

Targeted Treatment. I have already bought a second tube because I took photos of myself on the first day of using it and on day 28 and I can tell that the loss of volume on my nasolabial fold and tear trough got shallower.

Essences.  I heard great things about the Benton essence but the samples I used are too small for me to be able to use for long enough to see any difference.  As for the Belif one, I don't know if it was just my eyes or using other products at the same time (like the Sulwhasoo sleeping mask everyday) but I felt like my skin was so glowy while using this.  However, I'm still not sure what it really is supposed to do.

Facial Cleansers.  I haven't used facial wipes in such a long time, but bought this one for travel.  I liked the other cleansers too, but won't repurchase the Innisfree ones because I discovered the importance of pH in cleansers, and through research found out that the pH of these Innisfree cleansers are too high.

Sheet Masks.  Used up fewer sheet masks this month than the previous two months, but still a bit more than I thought I would.  I guess I'd treat myself while I was in Sweden, considering how I used all the Hada Labo sheet masks I had. It does give a bit more of a luxurious feel than the cheaper masks, but I don't think it's enough that I'd pay so much extra for it.

Wash-Off Mask This was nice, and it was really good for my retinoid-dry skin at that time, but I wouldn't buy it on my own.

Face Creams.  I'm in love with the Honey Cera eye cream, and every other creams here did just fine. In fact I have the full size version of the Belif Moisturising Bomb.