Beauty haul- mainly Asian

sian makeup is not the most accessible where I live so when I get a chance I try to pick up a few products. I currently have a few days off from work so I decided to check out a few places where I can easily get Asian makeup. I was using a sample of the Missha M Signature Real Complete BB Cream in shade 23 that I got a while ago, but I was starting to run out. The Dr. Jart BB Cream that I was using in the winter time was too light for summer so I started using the Missha one. Let me just say that I'm really loving it. It covers really well and it gives my face a flawless finish. I have oily skin and this one gave my face a satin finish.

This is the bag that my Korean makeup came in.

I picked up the Missha BB Cream, but I also got the Missha M BB Boomer. The sales lady told me that the BB Boomer was 50% because I bought BB cream. I tried it on the back of my hand and I was curious to try it. I got the BB cream for $28.99 and the BB Boomer was $9.50 (original price was $19).

Here is the BB Boomer (left) and the BB cream (right) swatched on my hand.

The BB Boomer is supposed to go on your skin before the BB cream and it's supposed to make the BB cream last longer and also give your skin look brighter. You know how Korean actress' skin looks so luminous in the ad campaigns? Well, this is supposed to do exactly that. Here it is blended out a bit. It has a pearlescent finish to it.

Here is the BB cream blended out. I know it looks really light on my hand, but when it oxidizes it's not as white. Plus, I use a bronzer on my face after applying this and it matches pretty well.

Here it is blended out completely. See how it blends in?

Here's another look.

What I love most about Korean beauty counters is all the freebies they give you. They are all Missha samples. I got a Super Aqua Oxygen Micro Essence Peeling- this is a peel that you leave on your face after washing your face and after a few minutes it's supposed to form bubbles. After the bubbles pop (I know it sounds gross!) you're supposed to rub it gently off your face. It is a peel that is supposed to create cell turn-over by getting rid of dead skin cells. Next I got 2 Misssha BB Boomers. I'm going to give one to my co-worker who is wanting to try BB creams. She is Greek, but she started hearing all about BB creams and is curious to try it. I also got a sample of the BB cream to give to her as well. Lastly, I got a sheet mask in lemon.

Next I went to an Asian mall, which isn't that close to where I live, but they have all the hard-to-find makeup brands.

I got more cotton pads. The Asian ones are far superior than the Western cotton pads. They are oh-so-soft and some of them are bound at the edges so they don't come apart. I bought this one because it was bound at the edges and it has 2 sides- a textured side (shown here) and a plain side. The textured side might be good for taking off harder-to-remove makeup. I'm not sure how many comes in this box because all the writing is in Japanese, but it was $4.

I also got a cleansing lotion. This one is by Mandom Beauty. I was using the Shiseido Perfect Cleansing Oil, but I didn't love it. I didn't feel that it removed my waterproof makeup completely. I think the Laneige one I bought did a better job, but that one was heavier. The Shiseido one was much more water-y.

So when I was talking to the sales associate she recommended this one. It's a little more costly than the Shiseido one, but she said this one was way more potent. She said you don't even need to wash your face with water after using this. You can wipe your face with a cotton pad and you're good to go. I think I would still wash my face with water afterwards though. I got the Mandom Cleansing Express Brightup Cleansing Lotion. This is the lavender coloured bottle. This one is supposed to brighten your face afterwards. There were other ones, but this one was the one I wanted to try.

Here's a non-beauty item. I got a portable fan. It's been super hot where I live and I just wanted a portable fan that I can have in my purse to cool me off during the day. Isn't this cute? I think this was $4 or something like that.

Next, I got some NYX products. NYX is not available at drugstores here. Well, they sell it at Rexall Pharma Plus, but they don't have the whole range. Plus, it's REALLY expensive there. The Asian mall I went to had way more NYX products and they were better priced. I got the Jumbo Eyeliner in Milk (white). I already have Black Bean (black), Dark Brown, and Oyster (light pearlescent purple). This was $4.99.

I got a whole bunch of NYX Round Lip Glosses. They were $2.99 each.

This one is in 22 Natural. It's a nude-y pink with no shimmer. It's a cream finish. They are more water-y than MAC Cremesheen Glasses, but I still love it. It is quite pigmented and is not sticky at all. I would say they don't last as long, but I still love how it looks on my lips. I'm very happy with these.

This one is in 20 Kiss (2nd swatch). It is a nude-y pink, but is a tad more pink and bluer toned than Natural. It has a pearlesent finish to it. This reminds me a lot of MAC's Love Nectar Lustre Glass, but Love Nectar has very find gold glitter and is a tad more peach.

This one is in 06 Mauve (3rd swatch). This is a pink-y nude and it's in a cream finish. This one is really pretty on.

This one is in 34 Real Nude (4th swatch). This is an in-between colour of Natural and Mauve. It is a cream finish. There were other colours in the range, but I only chose the colours that had more pigmentation. There were pink one, but they were more of a clear gloss.

Lastly, I got 24 Café Latte (5th swatch). It is a peach-y nude gloss with a pearlescent finish. This one is probably the most sheer out of all the glosses that I got, but this one makes my lips look delicious! I think this would look great over lipstick.

Here's another view of all the colours. I'm sorry I couldn't zoom in. My camera lens won't let me go closer than this.

Semi-Precious

AC needs to stop coming out with limited edition products. I'm a HUGE sucker for them.

Even after my ginormous haul at my work's beauty sale I still couldn't resist getting some makeup from MAC's Semi Precious Collection. I wanted absolutely everything. I know Christine from Temptalia wasn't that impressed with this collection, but I quite liked everything. Mind you, I still have to try it out for myself... I'll do that tomorrow.

I picked up 3 things. I could have picked up more, but I couldn't do it. However, I REALLY want to check out the blush from this collection as well as a few lipsticks and lip glosses. Yikes!

I picked up 3 eye shadows. Aren't they just gorgeous?

I got Faux Gold (A mix of coral, gold, bronze. When mixed looks like a gold-ish copper colour; Unsurpassable (A mix of green, teal, silver, copper, purple. When mixed looks like a silvery green; and Clarity (A mix of light pink, white, gray, gold, blue, and black. When mixed looks like a charcoal gray with green shimmer).

Here they are in the pan.

I did a quick swatch on my hand. I didn't use a primer. Clarity and Unsurpassable goes on a little sheer and there's a lot of glitter particles. Also, I can see it having a huge fall-out problem when I apply it on my lid. HOWEVER, I want to use these 2 colours as my inner 1/3 colour so I didn't want it to be super pigmented. One of my all-time favourite inner 1/3 colour is NARS' Nouveau Monde Duo eyeshadow palette (from the 2011 Spring Collection). More specifically, the silver-y purple side of the duo. Clarity and Unsurpassable reminded me of that type of colour. That's why I got it.

Faux Gold is super smooth in texture and is probably the most pigmented out of the 3. I loved this colour because I saw the model wearing this on the promo. I can't wait to try this one.

I tried it wet very quickly. You can see it on the top swatch. You can see it's a little more pigmented. I did try a swatch of it over my MAC Soft Ochre Paint Pot and the colour was much more vibrant. I definitely recommend using a base of some sort to make the eye shadows stand out. I would also pat the colour on the lid instead of dragging your brush back-and-forth to prevent huge fall-out.

I think I'm going to go back tomorrow and check out the Golden Gaze and the Rose Quartz MSF. I would also like to try Pure Magnificence Cremesheen Glass and Gem of Pink lipstick.

On another note, I tweeted last week that I got a whole bunch of stuff at my work's beauty sale. I brought home the stuff in batches because I got so much stuff. I just wanted to give you a sneak peek at what I got. This is minus the Keurig coffee maker that I also got for $35! Regular was over $150!

Excuse my gross-looking bathroom floor. I don't know why it looks like that on camera. It's actually pretty clean.

I'm too tired to post what I got at the beauty sale, but I took some pictures of some of my favourite things that I got. I will try to post it tomorrow or in the next few days. Stay tuned!

Beauty haul (photo heavy)

ust a few random beauty things I picked up over the past few weeks.

Some were things I got from work and others were stuff I picked up for myself because I had heard lots of good things about them.

Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in #61 Bonheur. This is my first Chanel lipstick. My co-worker gave this to me to try out. The colour isn't photographing true to colour, but it's a sheer, but buildable reddish berry colour with some gold shimmer. It's actually quite pretty. This formulation is super hydrating and leaves my dry lips very moisturized. I'm quite impressed with this product so I would love to try out more.

MAC's Love Nectar Lustreglass. I first heard about this in Sandra's YouTube video on her favourite MAC lip products. It's a beautiful neutral gloss with gold shimmer. It goes on a little sheer, but when I wear it alone on my lips my lips literally look so plump and delicious! I can't explain it. I love how it looks on my lips. I've been wearing it religiously on my lips for a few weeks now.

I picked up another product from MAC's Surf Baby! Collection today- Strange Potion Lipglass. It's a repromote from the 2010 Venomous Villains Collection- the Evil Queen. It's a pretty coral colour. It's very pigmented and almost goes on like liquid lipstick. I definitely can wear it alone, but I bought it to wear over my next lip product.

I dropped by MAC today to actually pick this lipstick up. It's called Costa Chic and it's part of their permanent line. I heard about this from a few beauty blogs and I knew I had to get it. Lately I've been obsessed with bright colours- especially corals. Unfortunately it's not photographing true to colour, but it's a bright coral in a frost finish. I absolutely love it!

Here are all the lip products swatched on my hand. From left to right: Chanel's Bonheur Lipstick, MAC's Love Nectar Lustreglass, MAC's Strange Potion Lipglass, and MAC's Costa Chic Lipstick.

Shu Uemura eyelash curler. I was using my Shiseido eyelash curler for the longest time, but I decided I needed a new one. It's very comparable to the Shiseido one. I'm not sure which one is better because they both work equally well on my eyes.

Revlon's Blue Mosaic nail polish. I got this today from work and I can't wait to try it! It reminds me a lot of Deborah Lippmann's nail colours.

Revlon's Starry Pink nail polish. I was most intrigued about this one because I've never seen a grayish purple nail colour with glitter like this. It's much more beautiful in person.

OPI's Mermaid's Tears from the Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides Collection. I also got this from work today and I can't wait to try it. It reminds me of a darker version of China Glaze's For Audrey.

If you guys have dry lips like me you MUST pick up Jack Black's Intense Therapy Lip Balm. I got mine at Sephora (not sure where else you can get it) and it's AMAZING. I heard a lot of good things about it already and I can see why. It was about $8 and it's in the men's beauty (is that the right word?) section. It comes in Natural Mint (which is what I got) and other flavours. My store only carried the mint one and Lemon & Chamomile, but online I see many more flavours. I really like mint and how it makes my lip tingle so that's why I got this one. The tingling sensation may be a little too much for those who don't like that, but I love it. There used to be a lip treatment that I used to use when I was in my teens, but they discontinued it. I forgot who it was by, but this one reminds me a lot of that one. It is a gel-like texture and it feels almost oily, but once it starts working it really make my lips feel so soft and hydrated.

I picked up Maybelline's Mineral Power concealer in ivory 2-3. The shade is a little too light for me now since I've been out in the sun every weekend, but I really like it. I'm no concealer connoisseur, but I think this is a great concealer that is great for spot treatment and has light reflecting properties. I think it would also be great for under the eyes. It has a doe-foot applicator and it blends really well. I was using MAC's concealer (the one that comes in the pot), but I find it too thick in texture and it doesn't look great near the end of the day.

I saw Hard Candy's Fox In a Box at Walmart and I was interested in trying them out. It reminded me of Benefit's blushes, but for a fraction of the price. I think I got mine for just under $6 each. The first one I got was in Spicy & Sweet. It's a mosaic blush with a bronzer. You can see the individual swatch above with a final swatch (at the bottom) with it all swirled together. It's actually quite pigmented so I have to be careful not to grab too much with my blush brush. It comes with a brush that is on the inside lid of the packaging, but it's really cheap and useless. It's better to use your own brush. I use a combination of my Tokidoki blush brush and my MAC 109 brush.

Next I got Truth Or Dare. I got this one because I wanted to compare it with the Benefit blush I already own.

The one I have from Benefit is Thrrrob and I love it. The packaging is very similar too.

The left is Thrrrob from Benefit and the right is Truth Or Dare from Hard Candy. The Hard Candy has a bronzer on the left. The Benefit one is a little more blue-based and a bit lighter.

Here's the swatch of the Hard Candy blush. It's really hard to tell in this photo because the colours are so light. The left is the Hard Cnady bronzer, the middle the Hard Candy blush, and the right is Benefit's Thrrrob.

I've been trying out MAC's MSF in Give Me Sun! I use it as a bronzer because it doesn't have any shimmer. I have oily skin so I hate anything with shimmer. It's a little ruddy looking for my skin tone, so I've been using it very light-handed on my cheeks.

This is my favourite liquid eyeliner of ALL TIME. It's from the Sephora line and it's amazing. The SA was telling me that Sephora reformulated this eyeliner so I should try it. I had used the previous one in the past and I hated it. This one dries almost instantly and the black is so intense and long-wearing. It doesn't flake like some other liquid eyeliners (i.e., the Lancome Art Liner) and it looks matte, not shiny (i.e., L'Oréal Lineur Intense). The brush is not that flimsy so you can draw a thin line or press down harder to draw a thicker line. The only con is that because the black is so intense you really do need a steady hand.

I just love this eyeliner that I bought a back-up. I'm surprised I don't hear much about this eyeliner because it's sooooo good. It's also very affordable at $12CAD. I want to buy the brown one too.

I want to show you guys how black the Sephora eyeliner is so I compared it to my Dolly Wink eyeliner that I picked up a couple of months ago. The Dolly Wink eyeliner got a lot of raves, but I think the Sephora one is better. The 2 bottom lines were drawn with the Dolly Wink eyeliner and the top 2 is the Sephora one. You can see that the Sephora one is a lot more intense. I still like the Dolly Wink and I mainly use it to finish off the flick when I draw a cat eye. I find that the felt tip of the Dolly Wink is much easier for control than the Sephora one.