Haul from Hong Kong

Just came back from Hong Kong. It's so crowded there because of Chinese New Year. Feeling slightly guilty to buy all these stuffs as shown below but figured it would be awhile before my next visit. And it's probably 50% cheaper than what I would have paid here. 

I got a lot of masks this time because it's very cheap there. My Beauty Diary masks are HKD$49/box, which is less than $7. I got 2. Got some Missha masks from Incheon airport for $15/10 pieces. Also restocked Laneige Water Sleeping_Ex Mask. I got a Rice Mask from Skin Food. Smells pretty good but yet to try on my face. Feels good on my hand though.

Repurchased Missha BB cream. Only $12 at the airport. Also got a Kanebo one for around $13 in HK.

I spent the most at Jill Stuart coz this brand is incredibly expensive to buy from any online dealers. I got Jewel Crystal Eyes 003, a hand mirror, Jill by Jill Stuart Eau De Toilette, and Blush Blossom 006. They were doing a promotion and if you purchase HKD$1000 that includes a limited edition item, they would give 2 Jelly Lip Gloss mini sample (9g) in 04 Baby Pedal and 05 Frosted Cherry for free.

I discovered Sasa Outlet and got a Tony Moly's eyeshadow for less than $1. Also, got some nail sticker strips for less than $1 each. If I purchase the same thing at Citisuper, it would cost me around $5.

Went to Watsons and they carry Majolica Majorca. The gal said normally they don't have any promotion but since it's CNY, they have buy 3 nail polishes get 1 free deal. I would not pass any nail polishes deal, so, got 4 gave 2 to my friend. Bought limited Peach Macaron blush in PK301 and eye shadow BR631. Eye shadow palette is very pigmented and much smoother than their older eyeshadows. I can't remember how much I had to spent to get a free Jeweling pencil in BE208. Anyways, I got that as a gift with purchase.

I also got the Lunasol 2010 Christmas Coffret set. It was sold out but my friend managed to order one for me online. Haven't tried the eyeshadow palette yet but the blush was very nice!

Many things are still in the box. It will take me awhile to try them out and post. But first let me get over with jet lag first coz it's killing me...

My Favorite 2010 Products

Hope you had a good Christmas and look forward to a new year. Let me share with you some of the things I've enjoyed using this past year.

Eyeshadow Quad

Maybelline Expert Wear Eyeshadow in Natural Smokes

This is by far I think the most affordable, high quality eye shadows. I really like using this throughout the year. I got it from the drugstore when they had 40% off. It's like 5-10% of what I normally would pay for a dept store eyeshadow quad. I didn't buy the other color quads though. Pigmentation is great and I just love, love, love the lid color. One downside though as you can see is the cheap flimsy packaging. It cracked when I brought it to Asia with me earlier this year. And I dropped it on the floor and there goes a chunk off of the dark brown color. Oh well... Nevertheless, I would repurchase it. Hope they will never discontinue this!

Eye Shadow Primer

NARS Eyeshadow Primer

This is one the best things that saves my oily lids. I smudge technically all the mascaras and eyeliners; no matter if they are smudge proof or water proof. With this, it helps my eye makeup stays much longer than they normally would. I don't get panda eyes as frequent. Cannot go without this.

Mascara 

Fiberwig Lash Knockout Volume Mascara

Not sure where you can get this. Perhaps AdamBeauty or Sasa carries it. I got it in TW when I went there for a visit. It doesn't come right off like the original Fiberwig mascara does but it comes off easily with the Mac eye makeup remover. It gives you a very nice volume; much better than the original.

Masks

Laneige Water Sleeping Pack EX

I got this jar from the Incheon airport in Korea. Can't remember the price but it was around $20. I've used their 1st version since way back when they were sold for $10 at the department store... For a lazy person like me, I just put a thick layer on my face before going to bed whenever I feel my skin is getting a bit dry, everything just soaks right in. I would wake up with a glow on my face.

I remember I had a bit of their previous version left before going on a long flight to Asia. I brought it to the airport and putting everything on before getting on the plane. My skin just absorbed it like a sponge and didn't feel dry on the entire plane trip (I'm talking about 11 hour flight). It's a must have!!

Missha Collegen Mask

Very moisturized and it contains a lot of fluid, so usually I put this on for about 20-30 minutes. One downside though is when the mask is getting a bit drier, it may fall off from your face. Anyways, I just lay flat when that happens. LOL Not sure if you can get it in the US though. Maybe on Missha's website. I got this at the Incheon airport for $18 w/10 pcs at the time.

My Beauty Diary - Southern France Apricot Mask

This makes my skin very soft and stays on my face nicely. They use a newer material for this mask than their other ones. I wish the holes for the eyes are slightly bigger. haha 

Hand Cream/Lotion

Korres Guava Body Butter

I just love this lotion because it's very moisturizing and this is my 3rd tube. Sometimes Korres website will have deals or just wait for Sephora to go on sale. It's thick and have a sweet scent to it. Not overwhelming and I think the scent doesn't last very long, which is good. I don't like the scent lingers too long on my skin. It contains no paraben, mineral oil, propylene glycol , or ethanolamine.

Nail Polish

If you notice, I do like painting nails. It sort of like a stress relief for me. I like certain brands, like OPI, Essie, China Glaze. The only one drug store brand I would repurchase is Revlon. You can always get good deals from Ulta on those salon nail polishes. Always look for nail polish without these three chemicals: formaldehyde, toluene, and DBP.

For the ones I listed here, they work for my skin tone (from left to right):

OPI - No Spain No Gain

Essie - Plumski

China Glaze - Spontaneous

Sephora by OPI - Call Your Mother

Rimmel - Lasting Finish Pro - Steel Grey

Butter London - All Hail Mcqueen

Seche Vite - Dry Fast Top Coat

Nail Maintenance

Nailtiques Nail Protein 

When my nails chips or peels, I will use this. Somehow my nails grow faster after I have this on. I didn't believe it at first but it does work.

California Mango Cuticle Oil
This is amazing and smells wonderful! My cuticles are very dry and this just soaks right in. I keep this at my desk at all times. You can get this at Sally Beauty.

Dior Holiday Collection Makeup Palette

Holiday season is here and it's a great time to shop. But we need to be smart about our spending and best use of our resources. After careful consideration, I got this Dior makeup palette during Sephora's Friends and Family 20% off sale a little while ago. Regular retail price is $75. The package is very pretty with red patent material. Size is about 4"x 5 1/4" x 1 1/4". It has a zipper closure. I don't like holiday palettes that use heavy duty paper packaging or the ones with bulky package. I know the ones like Too Faced or Smashbox or Tarte make a great holiday set because of the range of colors and variety of shadows but I don't want things to take up too much space and it's difficult to store. That's why I find this Dior palette more appealing because it makes a good travel size kit and pretty compact.

When it opens up, there's a heavy plastic cover and 2 eyeshadow sponge tip applicators are placed on the top.

 After you remove the plastic film, there are 6 eye shadows, a DiorBlush in 950, a DiorSkin Forever compact powder in 030, a DiorShow Extase mascara (4ml), and an Ultra Gloss in Flash 662 lip gloss (4ml). The mascara, lip gloss, and compact powder are yet to try. The gloss reminds me of Flash 686 but this has more red to it. The 6 eye shadows can be easily mixed for day and night. I've used this shadow a number of times and they are easy to apply and blend and the quality is no different than their regular shadow palette, which is a good thing. I notice some other brands may compromise their holiday collection with cheaper packaging and use a different location to produce their holiday palette to keep the cost down. And at times, the quality of the shadows are compromised.

Here's a swatch. I don't know if you can tell I've put the powder on the far left because it almost blend in with my skin. LOL. I may use that for touch up but haven't tried it on my face yet. The blush on the far right as labeled. The blush is a light pinkish color and gives your cheek a light glow and not too overwhelming. If you use the shadows in this palette, especially if you use darker shades for a more dramatic look, you probably don't want your cheeks to be too pink. Overall, I think this is a great buy.

Lancome Teint Miracle

I stopped by Nordstrom counter the other day and got a sample of the Lancome Teint Miracle to try. I'm in shade Ivoire 4N. Full size comes in 1 oz and it's $37 for the bottle. They have 20 shades, so shouldn't have a problem finding the right shade. Packaging is good because it's comes with a pump. My personal preference with foundation is always one that comes with a pump. Just more sanitary and won't get messy. I don't put on foundation everyday and usually I can do with just concealer. Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation in Warm Sand is what I use currently and that feels quite light already. But this Teint Miracle looks even more sheer and yet coverage is good. The foundation is quite watery and not thick. I don't feel like having something on. If you have blemishes, I am not sure how well it covers but for me, coverage is pretty good and evens out my complexion. My skin is very sensitive and this doesn't break me out or cause any allergic reaction.

I've tried this for 2 days in a row. Though I do notice the T-zone area gets kinda oily after a few hours but I think just need to touch up a bit then. My cheeks tend to have dry patches if the product is too dry and this didn't happen at all. Probably will consider purchase this once I'm done with the Bobbi Brown one.

Nordstrom 11/6 Mascara Deals

I was at Nordstrom the other day and the sales @ the Chanel counter told me about buy two get one free mascara deal on 11/6. I think they started doing that last year. If you need to stock up mascaras, perhaps go and reserve them now. Bobbi Brown sales also told me the same thing, so I guess probably other brands are also participating.

Note: I used to buy Lancome waterproof mascaras but because of sanitary reasons, I throw one out every 3 to 4 months. It becomes quite expensive if I keep using Lancome. Earlier in the year I stocked up a bunch of Fiberwig mascaras from my trip to Asia, so I probably won't make any mascara purchase.

Nails with Light Blue tips

Getting bored with single colors? Here's what I did with my nails.

• Seche Vite Base Coat
• One coat of Essie Mademoiselle (Sheer Pink)
• Paint the tip of the nail diagonally using Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Extreme Wear in White On (You can use any white nail polish)
• Then paint the tip using Essie Lapis of Luxury (light blue). As you can see the white part became just a strip.
• Make dots using H&M Blue Sky (Turqoise Blue) and add stickers. The floral stickers are from Daiso. Not sure if they still have that though but you get the idea.
• 2 coats of Seche Vite Top Coat to make nails long lasting and prevent the stickers from coming off.

Integrate GY905

Integrate is another drugstore product line from Shiseido and available in Asia. I got this new Integrate GY905 from a gal on ebay who shipped from Taiwan. The cost of this is $19. I thought the pricing is alright. In TW, it costs NTD $390 at retail, so roughly $12. Exchange rate is pretty bad now with the weak US dollar, so you really have to do the research in order to get a good deal. The whole product line contains 9 different color palettes; 5 colors in each palette and the packaging is pretty cute. The product contains 3.5g of eye shadows, which is not a lot. But it will take a long time to see the pan, at least for me. I like the pigmentation and the shimmer in this palette. NARS eye shadow primer is a must on my eye lids now as it holds up everything. So, honestly I don't know how well it stays up without the primer. But I read from some of the Chinese blogs and they commented the staying power is pretty good. Another thing is its sponge tip applicator is pretty high quality. I really like this palette coz it's rare to find a nice gray shimmery eye shadow that stays. I'm also eyeing on BR 701 but will wait until my return to Asia in a few months.

Here's a swatch. Isn't that pretty?