This is really late but I thought I should probably document this Hauliday because I went overboard (again).

okayyyyy

I placed a couple of orders during the Black Friday Sale period on Beauty Bay, Cult Beauty, Tarte, Lookfantastic, Mac, Target, Sigma and Sephora. Stuff that I got during my trip to Hong Kong and Taiwan are also included since they were purchased around the same period.

Now only did I realize I really bought A LOT opppps.



This was my first ever purchase from Beauty Bay. I was lucky to have placed order when the Black Friday sale had just started because 2 days later there was a virtual queue to get into the website! Even when I finally got into the site, many popular items were already sold out.

I managed to meet the free shipping requirement so the package was sent to my directly. It came in a sturdy cardboard box and everything was securely bubble-wrapped. They also filled the void spaces with papers so the items do not move around which often leads to damages.




Everything was shipped alllllll the way from the UK and they did not even use a proper box. There were essentially just 2 pieces of cardboard to sort of wrap up the contents. I really appreciate that there was additional bubble wrap for the more fragile item like the Jouer powder highlighter.

The Ordinary Serum Foundation gives this really natural finish but unfortunately it did not work well on my combo skin under this climate. Also I finally bite the bullet and got the (really expensive) by Terry Hyaluronic Hydra-powder which I am excited to see how it wears.

I had worn the Huda Beauty liquid lipstick once and was surprised that I did not like it. I should probably give it another chance since it was so highly raved about.

The Becca primers are also something that I had been wanting to try. I was so happy that they came in deluxe sizes!

For the Jouer highlighter in Citrine, that's intense. Highly recommend if you are looking for a highlighter that can blind someone miles away.
This was the package from Lookfantastic. I did not know they were under the umbrella of The Hut Group so it took me a while to figure out what the contents were fml.

If you give a close look, he packaging design was quite interesting and secure. Part of the box had to be torn off in order to open so it makes it easy identify if the package had been tampered during transit.

These are my 4th, 5th and 6th tube of the Balance Me Pure Skin Face Wash. I bought 3 during the last sale and it was time to replenish my stock. Yes they are that good.

However, they recently revamped the packaging and I did notice slight difference in the scent. Not too sure if they made changes in the formulation too. Nonetheless it still works great and I will definitely repurchase until I get sick of them lol.

I got the really good deal of 3 for 2 and there was additional 25% discount so that brought the final price to around 50% off.



Placed order for this Whisper of Guilt set when I learnt that it had been sold out at my local Mac store. Mac really nailed it this Christmas (2017) because the entire collection was so stunning.



Purchase from sephora.sg.




There are times when I want to get outta house quick and powder foundation will be a better option than liquid foundation since there is no need for setting. After checking out several reviews, this foundation seems to fit my needs better and I hope it will work well. Yes it is still sitting in my drawer.....

Finally the last batch. This entry is so long I kinda regret doing it.

Beauty haul from Hong Kong.

Eye brow pencils, eyeshadow quad and the eyelash curler are all the bestsellers of Excel which SO many people raved about. I had wanted to buy them previously but never did because they were so pricey I was not sure if they worth it. This time round I finally bit the bullet (again) because I kept seeing great reviews of them I had to try them out. The brown Excel handheld mirror was a gift with purchase.

I love the Giorgio Armani Lip Magnet so much that I bought another shade #403 at the airport. Highly recommend if you are looking for liquid lipstick.



Okay I am officially out of vocabulary so that is all from me! *turns around and look at stuff I bought over the weekend....

It's that time of the year again!!

By the time I learnt about the Lucky Bag from Beautylish in early 2017, it had already sold out. :( I have always liked this kind of surprise packages hence I was determined to get one this year.

The official sale of Lucky Bag started on 26th December 9am PST. There were a total of 3 sessions - first session is open to VIPs who had spent $1000 and above; second session for those who had registered for early access and the third session is open only if there are remaining bags from the second session.

These lucky bags come in 2 sizes - Regular and XL, priced at $75 and $150 respectively. I had read that XL bags are more likely to be gone during the first session and it is only available within the US region. Oh well. Sometimes being left with no choice can be a blessing in disguise lol.

I had registered for the early access that started on 11am PST, which is 3am GMT here in Malaysia. Seriously. Believe it or not I called it a day at around 1.40am and had set my alarm at 2.55am for this sale but guess what? They decided to bring forward the sale time to 10am PST (2am GMT) so I was 1 hour late. Luckily there were still bags available else I would be so upset! (There were still bags left when I checked again at around 7am GMT.)

The first session also started 1 hour earlier and although Beautylish did send out email notifying the commencement of sale, not all people had seen it since nobody would have expected this sudden change on the event day itself. Those who had not read the email probably had missed the chance to score a XL bag too since they came in really limited quantity only. Many people were so upset over this and I guess I would too had I been eyeing on the XL bag.

Anyway I managed to grab hold of 1 bag and had paid $20 for international shipping. So the total of this bag is $95. DAS ESSPENSIVE.

Beautylish promised to ship the Lucky Bag by/on 13th January 2018. I received the shipping notification on the 13th and it arrived on the 15th. I am impressed, again.

Before the bag arrived, I had been checking on Instagram to see what people were getting. There were so many variations and I had only seen probably 1-2 repeated bags among hundreds of them. While browsing through them I was secretly wishlisting items of my bag but when I opened mine I was really.... disappointed. :(







There are 7 items in my bag:
- Skindinavia The Makeup Finishing Spray (Bridal) $39
- Becca Glow On The Go (Moonstone) $20
- Niod Sanskrit Saponins $50
- Natasha Denona Eyeshadow Palette 5 (Holiday Edition 2 - Aeries) $48
- Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick (Chrysanthemum) $18
- Wayne Goss brush (Eyeshadow Blending Brush - 18) $27
- Charlotte Tilbury Full Fat Lashes - $29

Total value: $231

In general, there will be 6-7 items in one bag. You will definitely receive a Wayne Goss brush and a palette (face/eyeshadow). The remaining items will depends on which palette you receive since it contributes to majority of the value of your bag. If you receive a more expensive palette, the rest of the items will then be of lower values.

They promised the value of Regular Bag to be $150 and above hence I had no issue with this. I came across someone who had received a Jouer powder highlighter gift set, a Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kit and a Natasha Denona Eyeshadow Palette 5, a Charlotte Tilbury liquid lipstick, a Wayne Goss eyeshadow blending brush, an Oribe hair spray and a Sulwhasoo face mask. I was hoping to get this bag but...... NOPE. :(

Another bag that I saw contained a Viseart 12-pan eyeshadow palette. It would be great to get it too since I really cannot bring myself to spend $80 on one freaking eyeshadow palette! I also saw that some received a Natasha Denona Lila Palette O-M-G!!

I was so upset not getting what I wanted but then I took a look at what I had gotten again and realized, they were actually of pretty good mix. Why?

1. There was item that I had considered getting.
I almost bought the Becca set during the holiday season but never did because I liked the Liquid Shimmering Skin Perfector yet I already had the powder hightlighter in Moonstone.

2. There was item from brand that I have been wanting to try.
I had heard really good stuff about Niod and this product will be a good introduction to this brand.
The Natasha Denona eyeshadow palettes have always been highly-raved about and the one that I received is of shade that I actually wear.

3. There was item that I knew is good but will never buy because of the hefty price tag.
Charlotte Tilbury products are fantastic but I was not someone who splurge on high end mascara. Now I get to try it!

4. There were items that have really good reviews that I have never tried before
I am not into Jeffree Star Cosmetics but I knew their liquid lipstick are great.
The Skindinavia setting spray is setting-spray-queen-Kathleen-Lights-approved and now I get to try it first hand. I do not normally use a setting spray so let's see if this will change the way I set my makeup forever lol.

Now come to think of it, even if I received the ABH Glow Kit or the Jouer highlighter set, I might not be using all of them as some could be too dark for my skin tone. Also I do not wear eyeshadows of purple hue, which are the stars of the Lila palette. Hence it could be a good thing that these items go to someone who would appreciate them more than I do.

I am so glad that I decided to do this post because after all these reasoning I found myself quite happy with my Lucky Bag and I would love to get another one again next year.

Last but not least, let's see what other products Beautylish has picked for the Lucky Bag 2018. These might not be all but I believe I have covered most of them:


ANASTASIA BEVERYLY HILLS
- Prism Eyeshadow Palette
- Glow Kit

ANNA SUI
- Hair Color Chalk Set

ARDENCY INN
- Modster Manuka Honey-Enriched Pigment
- Modster Smooth Ride Supercharged Eyeliner

BECCA
- Under Eye Brightening Corrector
- Apres Ski Face Glow Palette
- Backlight Priming Filter
- Velvet Blurring Primer
- Shimmering Skin Perfector Slimlight Highlighter
- Shimmering Skin Perfector Liquid
- Beach Tint
- Powder blush
- Blushed with Light Palette

BIODERMA
- Micellar water

BY TERRY
- Sun Designer Palette (Savannah Love)
- Stylo Blackstar
- Liquid Velvet Lipstick

CHARLOTTE TILBURY
- Instant Look In A Palette (Smoky)
- Matte Contour Liquid Lipstick
- 24K Gold Bar Highlighter

CLEAN APOTHECARY
- Brush shampoo

COVER FX
- Prmer
- Perfect Setting Powder
- Prime & Set Set

HYLAMIDE
- HA Blur

INDIE LEE
- Brightening Cleanser
- Lotion CoQ10

IT COSMETICS
- Je Ne Sais Quoi Face Palette 

JEFFREE STAR
- Skin Frost Highlighter
- Androgyny Eyeshadow Palette

JOUER
- Skinny Dip eyeshadow palette
- Skinny Dip lip topper
- Powder Highlighter gift set
- Powder Highlighter

KEVYN AUCOIN
- Celestial Skin Liquid Lighting
- NEO Setting Powder

NATASHA DENONA
- Lip Palette 5
- Eyeshadow Palette 5 (Permanent)
- Eyeshadow Palette 5 (Holiday)
- Body Glow
- Lip Color
- Blush Duo
- Lip Gloss

NUDESTIX
- Lip Gloss

OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE COSMETICS
 - Single Eyeshadow
- Lip Tar Liquid Lipstick

OMOROVICZA
- Thermal Cleansing Balm

Oribe
- Swept Up Volume Powder Spray
- Wave and Shine Spray
- Daily Ritual Cream Face Cleanser
- Lila Eyeshadow Palette

RCMA
- No Color Powder

RMS
- I saw it in a photo but could tell what it is

SMITH & CULT
- Nail Lacquer

STILA
- Liquid eyeshado

SULWHASOO
- Face mask

THE ORDINARY
- Caffeine Solution
- High Adherence Silicon Primer

VISEART
- Theory Palette

Wayne Goss
- Single Brush
- Brow Brush Trio

Z-PALETTE
- Large empty palette


Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the bag you received. Have a great and lucky 2018 ahead!

International shipping normally costs a bomb but Beautylish offers it free as long as your order hit the minimum spending requirement. Best part? It was delivered by FedEx and not the usual USPS, which is engaged by most merchants who offer free international shipping.

I was totally impressed beyond words when my order took only 4 days to arrive. I placed my order on Friday and it arrived on Monday.

4. freaking. days. from the US to Singapore.

As you can see from the photo above, the box arrived in perfect condition which in no way looked like it had traveled all the way from the other side of the globe.





The first thing that greeted me is the nice wrapping paper, which comes in various designs depending on what items you order. In my case it is in RCMA theme as I had ordered the No Color Powder.





There was another thick layer of tissue to fill up the voids so as to prevent the contents from moving around.





The items I purchased were nicely wrapped up in another layer of paper.





Some more tissue beneath the packets to ensure zero movement.




At the bottom is the slip containing list of items in this box and yet another thick layer of tissue paper.





Oh thanks Claudia for packing them so nicely!




The brown paper looks so zakka-ish. Love!





So I finally bought the RCMA No Color Powder and the The Ordinary that is not ordinary at all.





I really liked that Beautylish provides these little pamphlets and stickers for The Ordinary products. It is these tiny gesture that makes them different.





Last but no least, the star of this order lolol.





I was so glad that it arrived unshattered. Look at these shades!!!!

Eyeshadow palettes are very prone to damages during transit especially those that are soft and loosely packed like this one. I read that their customer service is fantastic hence I had no worry ordering from them as I can rest assured any issues will be well taken care of. This is also the main reason why I had chosen Beautylish over other online retailers who also offered international shipping for this order. I could not testify on the after-sale customer service though (hoping I never have to) but my shopping experience this time was so great that I will definitely recommend them to everyone who shop beauty products online.

Now I am thinking what to order next..... opps!

So many people have raved about how great Colourpop products are and I finally had my hands on them. I was really curious about the special texture of Colourpop eyeshadow and the famous lippie stix everybody love.

I placed my order when Colourpop offered free international shipping and imo the savings is as good as if not better than the 30% Friends & Family Sale. Hence if you reside outside the US and is interested in Colourpop product, remember to grab the chance and order yours if you ever come across such promotion.




Unboxing time!




Very pretty prints on the interior of box. Just wondering why they decided to have the prints set inside instead of outside?

You can actually flip the box inside out and get a gorgeous box for storage. The material is pretty thick and sturdy hence do reuse the box to reduce some wastes.




All the products come in their own packaging, and are well-protected by the very thick foam sheet.

I was really glad that none of the products was damaged as I had read some unfortunate cases where their products had been damaged during transit.




First comes the items for lip -- Lippie Stix and Ultra Matte Lip.




The packaging is color-coded: purple for Lippie Stix and red for the Ultra Matte Lip.




Ordered 8 lippe stix -- Aquarius, Lumiere, Brink, Clique, Love Life, Bossy, Bichette, Poison. All of them is in matte finish, except Love Life which is in Matte X finish.

As seen from the photo, the lippie stix comes in a pen form and the name of each lippe stix is labelled at the end and hence it'd be best to store your lippe stix this way for ease of selection.






I had checked out countless swatches to have an idea of the actual colors before finally decided on these shades. They were more or less the same as what I had been anticipating, except poison and Bichette. Poison is slightly darker while Bichette is more brownish than expected.

Aquarius is a gorgeous brownish pink, the perfect nude for fair to light or even light-to-medium skin tone.
Lumiere is one of the shades from the collaboration between a youtuber, Kathleen Light, and Colourpop. Lumiere is a cool-tone berry red.
Brink is similar to Aquarius but more pinkish. This is also a very popular shade from the Lippie Stix series.
Clique is a bright red colour with orange undertone. Perfect for those who are very into k-pop!
Love Life is a muted red with orange undertone. It is just a must-have color for the Fall.
Bossy is a classic blue red.
Bichette is a cool tone red with blue undertone.
Poison is a brownish red perfect for the Fall/Winter.

The swatched colors of Aquarius, Bossy and Bichette differ from the tube color.

All of them is very pigmented and easy to apply. They glide on the skin easily and among which Aquarius is the smoothest, which also appears more glossy than the rest.

Although they are all called the matte Lippie Stix, they are not completely matte. The finish is more satin-y which has a tiny bit of sheen when viewed from certain angle. For a really matte finish, simply use a tissue and tap on the lip - all the shine will be gone.

If you prefer a really matte finish right after applying, you should go for the Matte X finish as it is really matte. The formula of Love Life seemed to be dryer than the Matte one when I was doing the swatches. It appeared slightly patchy but still smooth to apply though. There were reviews about Matte X finish being drying but I had not tried them on the lip for long hours yet hence no comment on this. Just take note if you have really dry lip.

Also, there were stains remained on my wrist after I removed them with Bioderma micellar water.




Gotten Ultra Matte Lips in Bumble and Mama despite many of the negative reviews because the color swatches looked my kinda color haha.



 

The formula is very liquid-y, not too thick and easy to apply. However it took a while to dry completely if more layers were apply.

On a side note, the applicator is of good size which allows precise application.




Bumble is a rosy pink color. Some say it is a dupe of Double Dare from Kat Von D. I was not so sure about this as I do not own Double Dare.

Mama is a pretty burnt orange from Colourpop's latest release for fall 2016.

The formula dried to a really matte finish. There are many reviews out there criticizing not only is it drying, it also cracks as the lip moves. It seemed to be quite drying from the appearance but I guess it's only fair that I wear it more to give my opinion on this.




Next up: Blush, eyeshadow and highlighter.

They are also individually packed in paper box.




Gotten 1 highlighter, 1 blush and 3 eyeshadows.

Colourpop eyeshadow is also a very much raved-about product other than the lippie stix. It is best to apply them using fingers, which I really suck. Therefore I only gotten three to test out.





Highlighter - Lunch Money

There is only one shade of highlighter I like on the face hence there was not much to debate on which one to get.

Another shade, Wisp, is also a popular option. It is a more golden than Lunch Money which will look good for deeper skin tone.




Lunch Money is a pale champagne gold. It contains very fine shimmers and gives a nice glow on the skin.

The texture of this highlighter is indeed very special - it is very velvety smooth and moist to touch. It resembles very fine mousse but on the skin it applies like powder, very easy to blend into the skin and is also buildable without looking cakey or heavy.

It can be wiped off easily though. I believe the lasting power can be limited by judging from this.




See how the 'powder' dented with just a light press. (ouch!)





Blush -- Bardot

IS IT GORGEOUS OR IS IT GORGEOUS????

Fell in love with this color immediately after I saw the swatches posted by Colourpop. It is from their Fall Edit and I mistook it as an eyeshadow shade.




Eyeshadow -- (L-R) Mitten, Elixir, Seeker.
All in matte finish.

Elixir and Seeker are from the Fall Edit. These two colors together with Jinxie (champagne gold) and Paradox (wine red) form the Zingara foursome. I only gotten Elixir and Seeker as Jinxie is a rather common color and I don't fancy really red eyeshadow.



Mittens




Elixir




Seeker





Bardot is a burnt orange with a lot of gold shimmers.
Elixir is a terracotta; pretty similar to Bardot in color but more red undertone.
Seeker is a medium brown with slight orange undertone.
Mitten is a cool toned medium brown with hint of purple undertone.

The texture of blush is not as moist as that of the highlighter but it is also easy to blend.

As for the eyeshadow, they are much dryer and do not have the 'moist' texture of the highlighter. By swatching them a few times I came to realize that it needed to be blended as soon as it was applied else it could become patchy. I also have a feeling that it would be better to apply a little at a time, blend it out and add more where necessary for better result, since there is not much space on the lid and you need to work fast.



That's all for my first Colourpop haul and I hope this entry has been helpful. :)