HAULS: March 2017

Another month and it seems like my "low buy" promise completely went out of the window... Maybe I've gone complete crazy. My mum came back from Thailand and gave me a lot of skincare from Thailand.  And I dunno, I suppose I'm stockpiling for Sweden? In a few months I won't have as easy an access to most of these things.

I also learned earlier this month that Korean & other Asian skincare products in brick & mortar stores here in Singapore are sold at exorbitantly marked up prices, and that it's just cheaper to buy things online shipped directly from Korea, though of course it depends on knowing which websites to buy from. BAH! Anyway, I guess the good thing is that I can go to the physical stores, try on the products and then buy online :D. Best of both worlds!

LUMENE Hydration Recovery Oxygenating Gel Mask - Lumene is a Finnish cosmetics & skincare brand and from what I can see from their skincare range, they seem to blend western & eastern skincare concepts using Nordic ingredients. Interesting and I can really get behind this concept! Loving the look and packaging too.  I picked this up on my trip to Sweden.  This mask can be used as both wash-off mask and sleeping mask.  It was on sale at Åhléns for 159 kr (~SGD$25) for 150 ml of product, which is extremely generous considering most creams and sleeping masks that I can find over here are from 50 - 100 ml and many of those are more expensive!  I expect it to last a long time but I haven't tried it yet.

TONYMOLY I'm REAL Aloe Mask Sheet Moisturizing - FINALLY! Bought into this hype of Tonymoly masks. I've been wanting to get it for a long time and I can see why it's so popular - the packaging is so different and very attractive, not to mention that the illustrations are super cute and quirky! I don't really know why I haven't bought it until now, but maybe because I thought it was kind of expensive, but when I went to a Tonymoly store I saw it on offer, 10 for $12, so I got 10!

TONYMOLY I'm REAL Broccoli Mask Sheet Vitality - Yes the packaging is attractive enough for me to even pick up something that contains broccoli that will be marinating on my face! Yikes. I'm just trying to console myself by telling myself that sheet masks have 90% of the same ingredients and these extracts that they advertise are probably very tiny...

TONYMOLY I'm REAL Red Wine Mask Sheet Pore Care

TONYMOLY I'm REAL Lemon Mask Sheet Brightening - And even lemon! I heard that it's an awful idea to put lemon on your face since it's phototoxic.  

TONYMOLY I'm REAL Pomegranate Mask Sheet Elasticity

TONYMOLY I'm REAL Makgeolli Mask Sheet Skin Purifying - Had to look up what makgeolli is, apparently it's some sort of Korean alcoholic beverage.

TONYMOLY I'm REAL Avocado Mask Sheet Nutrition - sss

TONYMOLY I'm REAL Tomato Mask Sheet Radiance - sss

TONYMOLY I'm REAL Seaweeds Mask Sheet Skin Purifying - Yeah, again, I love seaweeds in food, but on my face...uhm. I tell myself that sheet masks are slimy anyway. Just hope I won't see seaweedy bits.

LANEIGE Water Sleeping Mask - I'm so late to the party but better late than never, right? This is Laneige's iconic product and the product that I see bloggers rave about. In fact I've yet to see a negative review of it (though tbf I haven't look around very much) and I dunno, it's built up so much that I'm almost scared to try it. Like what if my expectation around it is too high now from all the hype?  Also it comes with literature which is always nice to read.  It mentions 'garlic acid' which I'm definitely sure is a typo of something, but I don't know what. I'm not taking the piss just really curious, like, could it be gluconic acid or glycolic acid?  Can't figure out from the ingredients list either.

ETUDE HOUSE Moistfull Collagen Facial Mask Sheet - On my way to trying everything from the Moistfull Collagen line! This is surprisingly expensive for such a seemingly basic sheet mask - $4.50! What!

ETUDE HOUSE 0.2 Therapy Air Mask - Lotus  - I haven't tried this particular one but all of the 0.2mm masks that I've tried are good.

ETUDE HOUSE Honey Cera Wrapping Mask - I bought this when Etude House had a 20% sale and I thought maybe I'd pick up something I'd never otherwise try and I thought this was a sleeping mask at the store but I was so mislead! Argh! Anyway I'll try it...

ETUDE HOUSE Moistfull Collagen Sleeping Pack 

BELIF The True Cream - Moisturizing Bomb - Picked this up, along with the other Belif products below when they had a 20% sale. I've been wanting these for a long time but omg the price is so eye-watering.  Even after 20% off it's still quite high, but I really wanted them.

BELIF The True Cream - Aqua Bomb 

BELIF First Aid Aqua Rush Mask - I would have never picked this up if it wasn't for the 20% sale.

PHYSIOGEL Daily Moisture Therapy Dermo-Cleanser - My mum gave this to me. 

KIEHL'S Rosa Arctica Lightweight Cream - My mum gave this to me too. It was actually given to her by my sister, which she got for free from an event she went to.  I was so curious about this for a long time. I see this sold in Kiehl's in Scandinavia but not here in Singapore, but couldn't justify buying it because it was so expensive (even by Kiehl's standard!) and it didn't smell so good from the sample I tried at the Copenhagen airport, so it was such a surprise to see it here.  The one that mum gave me doesn't smell bad at all - just faintly of lavender, which makes me wonder if it only smelled bad because it had so many fingers poking into it, introducing bacteria so it went a bit off.

INNISFREE Green Tea Moisture Skin - Bought this at the Singapore airport duty-free, which is about $5 cheaper than buying it at an Innisfree brick & mortar store in Singapore. Just nice to know that I'll have another chance to go through the Singapore airport duty free.

INNISFREE Green Tea Sleeping Pack - I meant to buy this one for my boyfriend. I ordered it from online which is cheaper, but the package was delayed so in the end I had to rush off to an Innisfree store to buy it on time for my departure, so now this is mine to use.

INNISFREE Green Tea Balancing Special Kit - At least one perk of buying at physical stores here is the gifts with purchase, but I doubt it's worth it.

WHITE FORMULA Super Moist Toner With Hyaluronic Acid - Got this when they're 25% off. Heard they're supposed to be dupes of Hada Labo. Anyway they're so cheap that I can just soak DIY sheet masks and cotton pads to make DIY lotion masks.

 WHITE FORMULA Super Moist Light Toner With Hyaluronic Acid

SNP (SHINING NATURE PURITY) 99% Snail Soothing Gel - for a product that claims to be 99% snail it has a surprisingly huge ingredients list. Do the rest fit in 1%? :O and also, it smells very strongly of alcohol (not necessarily a bad thing IMO - I'm not opposed to alcohol in skincare), so I can't believe that such a supposedly small amount of alcohol can smell this strongly.  But it feels very refreshing on my skin.

 ABHAIBHUBET Bua Pai Khao Day Cream SPF 30 - Given to me by my mum from her trip to Thailand this month.  Bua Pai Khao just means lotus, bamboo and rice respectively, signifying the main plants that are used as ingredients in this cream. Apparently they're supposed to nourish, strengthen and soothe the skin.  What makes me a bit anxious is that it doesn't state if it has a PA rating, if any.

ABHAIBHUBET Emblica Plus Facial Cream - Also given to me by mum from her trip to Thailand.

CRABTREE & EVELYN Lily Body Lotion - Given by mum again! So nice of her.

SCENTIO Avocado Sherbet Body Scrub - scrubadub

HAULS: February 2017

So much for a 'low buy' this month! At least I bought NO makeup!  I think it's the ennui that I have around my life and anxiety - a desire to have enough Asian skincare products so that I'm want for nothing once I move to Sweden.  Also I had a lot of discount deals and sales this month. Oh well!  Also, this month featured a LOT of skincare firsts! I didn't know how much of a skincare noob I am until now.

INNISFREE White Gardenia Blossom Hand Cream deluxe sample. I was given this because I bought something at Innisfree on a Saturday and didn't take a bag. They give this as a reward for being more environmentally friendly by not taking a bag for purchases or something.

INNISFREE Green Tea Cleansing Water. Continuing on my micellar water train. As soon as I ran out of my Garnier micellar water I went out and get another one and this is what I got. Not for any better reason than because I was going to get other things from Innisfree and I'm a member there anyway.

INNISFREE Capsule Recipe Pack - Aronia. My first time trying out one of those Innisfree capsule mask packs.

  INNISFREE Jeju Sparkling Mineral Mist. I wanted to get a facial mist that fits in my bag so I can mist during the day.  So far I'm not really impressed by its hydrating capability and I don't care for the smell.

INNISFREE Best Cleansing Foam Collection - Green Tea, Jeju Volcanic and Olive deluxe samples.  This was the last new member gift I got from Innisfree. I thought it was awesome since I didn't have to buy a facial foam for a while, and then found out about the important of pH in skincare, especially in cleansers, and found out that the pH of all these cleansers are way too high. Damn it!

INNISFREE Lotus Flower Hand Cream.  I liked the sample perfumed hand cream so much I went out to get a full sized one, and felt adventurous and got a different scent. I like this one too. It smells powdery.

INNISFREE Special Care Mask, Hand and Feet. Repurchases! I just love the mild scent of these masks.

INNISFREE Green Tea Balancing Special Kit. I admit that I went out to buy things in Innisfree just to get this sample set! :P

BIORÉ AQUA Rich Watery Essence x2. This is the first month that I managed to get around to using this sunscreen which seems like everyone and their mother is using, and then I had to buy 2 tubes of it because I overestimated how much I need! Bah!

SULWHASOO Overnight Vitalising Mask EX. My first Sulwhasoo product ever! A well-loved and much-raved about product among the major AB bloggers. I bought it and the first morning after I use it I couldn't stop looking at myself in the mirror. I kept on thinking, "DANG, my skin looks GOOD!" So it works, I guess? It's also my first full size sleeping pack/overnight mask ever. I was so apprehensive to use such things for so long because I thrash around a lot when I sleep and didn't want to get goop all over my pillow.

WATSON'S Argan Oil Body Scrub.  It's alright I guess? It's cheap and to be honest, I'm used to a stronger body scrub.

KIEHL'S Ultra Facial Cream deluxe sample. I got this after returning 5 empties to Kiehl's.

KIEHL'S Clearly Corrective Brightening and Smoothing Moisture Treatment samples

KIEHL'S Midnight Recovery Botanical Cleansing Oil samples.  Surprisingly I really like it but considering that there's probably a lot cheaper cleansing oils out there that do exactly just as well I'm unlikely to pick up a full size sample of this.

KIEHL'S Double Strength Deep Wrinkle Filler. A repurchase.  I used my Kiehl's $50 off offer.

ETUDE HOUSE AC+ Clean Up Toner and Gel Lotion. I was given this with some purchase I made a while back.

ETUDE HOUSE Moistfull Collagen Facial Toner. I had a 20% off couple with Etude house so I went crazy with my purchases this month!  I've always wanted the Moistfull Collagen set. Then I went to the airport and saw that they sold Etude House at Duty Free which is cheaper, even compared to the discounted price! :p

ETUDE HOUSE  Moistfull Collagen Emulsion

ETUDE HOUSE  Moistfull Collagen Essence

ETUDE HOUSE Moistfull Collagen Sleeping Pack

ETUDE HOUSE Moistfull Collagen Skin Care Kit: Facial Freshener, Emulsion and Cream. YAY! Even more Moistfull Collagen, and I can even travel with them! I'm glad to get the Facial Freshener; I've seen it around but never on sale anywhere anymore, not in stores nor online. I read up a bit and it seems to be one of the previous generation of Moistfull Collagen which is now discontinued. Or maybe renamed to Toner?

ETUDE HOUSE Honey Cera set: Toner, Cream and Emulsion.  I've always wanted to try this line but was so unsure at shelling out a lot of $$$ for a set of products I won't even know if I'll like, so I'm glad I got this sample set with my purchase.

ETUDE HOUSE Honey Cera Wrapping Mask.  I bought this because I thought it was a sleeping mask! I wanted to try something from the Honey Cera line and saw this in store and it was labelled "sleeping mask" and I asked the sales assistant for confirmation and she said yes. So I bought it and looked it up and turned out that it really isn't a sleeping mask, but a wash off mask. I guess I should take this as an opportunity to try something new. I admit I've never used this sort of wash off mask in my life and this month I bought 2 of them!

HADA LABO Gokujyun Super Hyaluronic Acid Lotion. My first ever bottle of this EVER! I know, again, I'm soo so late to the party!  It seems like everyone else has used it except me. I've used products from their other lines, except this until now. Anyway better late than never! Like everyone else said, this is very slippy and 1-2 drops are enough for the entire face, and anymore than that is just too much. I can imagine that at this rate it will last a very long time, which makes it excellent value for money.

HADA LABO Gokujyun Hyaluronic Face Mask. Bought this out of curiosity.  I can't say the same for this mask in terms of value for money, and in terms of performance it's not that much better than other sheet masks that are 1/3 to 1/4 of the price, but I guess it gives me a feeling of prestige when using them so I'll use them occasionally as a treat.

BELIF The True Cream - Moisturising Bomb.  Belif was having a 20% sale at Tangs so I decided to grab a whole bunch of their products, two of which (this one and the Aqua Bomb) were on my wish list for a while.

BELIF The True Cream - Aqua Bomb

BELIF First Aid Aqua Rush Mask.  I also used the sales opportunity to buy this, which otherwise would make me think a lot longer and harder before I get it :P.

BELIF deluxe sample pack: The True Cream, Moisturising Bomb, The True Tincture of Chamomile, Bergamot Herbal Extract Toner.  Got this sample set with my Belif purchase. So handy for travelling!

SCENTIO Avocado Sherbet Body Scrub.  I saw this on one of the atrium sales so I grabbed it.

PHYSIOGEL Daily Moisture Therapy Dermo-Cleanser. Was given this by my mum.

BENTON Snail Bee High Content Essence.  A much raved about product on the AB webosphere so I decided to buy some samples from eBay. Gave one tube to my mum, one tube to my sister.

BENTON Snail Bee High Content Steam Cream.  Same as above.

SNP 99% Snail Soothing Gel.  Bought two of these tubs because Sasa was having this on 20% off.  One for myself and another for Johan. I think companies are really branching out with their soothing gels. A few years ago it used to just be aloe vera and now I see things like snail, pomegranate etc.

MY BEAUTY DIARY Hyaluronic Acid Moisturising Mask

MY BEAUTY DIARY Imperial Bird's Nest Mask. I'm really curious to try this, and I think it's one of the highest-rated MBD masks.

QUEEN HELENE Cocoa Butter Face + Body Crème.  It smells like candy, and it's so inexpensive for what it is! It works well as well, and I bought a bigger tub for Johan

ABHAIBHUBET Emblica Plus Facial Cream.  My mum also gave me this. I'm curious to try it.