Hello! Here's a collective haul of beauty items that I've recently bought or got in the mail.


ebay

Y'know, provided that you do research beforehand, I've found that eBay is the BEST for buying Korean skincare and makeup. The sellers thus far are super reliable, affordable and safe; most times, the items arrived long before the expected arrive date and often unexpectedly include a couple of samples.

I've been eyeing this lovely Tony Moly Red Appletox Cream for a long while, as I posed on my Instagram recently. A first impressions review is coming up!









colourpop

My Colourpop order came in fairly recently. I ordered three pressed shadows (Making Moves, Secrets, Cut outs) during their buy 2, get the third free event with also no minimum free shipping, but only two of the shadows arrived.

I contacted Colourpop and they've very kindly sent out the missing one, so I should be expecting it in the mail soon.

• making moves 
• secrets
• (missing) cut outs

skin18.com

This is the first mask I've received for review purposes as part of Skin18's blogger program. I have no thoughts yet but I'll be reviewing this mask very soon over on my Instagram, so keep a look out.

• beyond 3-gift soothing aloe mask

2017年6月1日

I drove to Tacoma last week, mostly for highway driving practice and to test out my cruise control. Yes, I got a car a couple of weeks ago--a new car--so I've been driving myself to and from work, with a couple of outings here and there. I've stayed mostly local, but Tacoma was my first long drive; it's about a 40 mins drive away.


cost plus world market

I know right, what a surprise?! I've not seen any masks at my local store but since Tacoma and surrounding areas have a higher percentage of Koreans, there's bound to be some extra goodies in unexpectedly places.

I bought some Bundaburg drinks but at the checkout, spotted a small selection of It's Skin sheet masks. I choose the Honey type primarily so I could include it in an upcoming mega review as a bonus that is honey themed--I promise, I'm almost done with it!.



sephora

Of course, since I stopped by the mall I did go into Sephora. I prefer the stand alone Sephora stores over the smaller kiosk type that's inside JCP, mostly that the stand alone offers more selection--K-Beauty! Still, I rely on buying online just to keep costs down but I enjoy swatching in store when I can. I was able to test Son & Park's Beauty Water (meh) and a couple of other things

I almost didn't buy anything until I spotted the Amore Pacific Color Control Cushion in the dangerous area, right before the checkout. Luckily, the palest shade was there (104 Light Medium (Pink)) so I'm hoping to do a first impression review and/or a video. I just love cushions!

I'm not ready to open it so it's staying in the box for now.


h-mart

On the way home, I decided to stop by H-Mart since I hadn't been there for a good year (seriously!!!!). I bought mostly food so the only skincare items were these two sheetmasks from Entel, on sale at .79 ea.

• entel houtuynia cordata mask pack
• entel snail gold mask pack

bae's skincare

Across from H-Mart, in the same strip-mall area is Bae's Skincare. The stores carries a lot of Tony Moly, Peripera, O Hui, some Sulwhasoo and a couple of other brands, but only a few items of each---not like multiple lines from each brand. I've been only one other time but it's definitely been a while! I stopped with with no intentions of buying anything (was hoping to maybe find Tony Moly's Peach Sherbet Cleansing Balm, since I saw it there before but didn't know I wanted it...sob.....) but I found a very nice deal!

I've been lusting over Dearpacker's masks on the 'gram, but haven't wanted to buy them as they're usually expensive on Amazon. Surprisingly, these were well within expiry date and were on sale for $1 ea. (the hydrogel was $3), with a deal running: buy 10, get 3 free. Score!

I bought:

• dearpacker jeju flower mask - cactus x3
• dearpacker jeju flower mask - rape blossom x2
• dearpacker jeju flower mask - cherry blossom x3
• dearpacker jeju flower mask - camellia x3
• dearpacker black tea & black rose hydrogel mask x1

• dearpacker gold collagen eye patch
• dearpacker real nature mask - aloe
• dearpacker real nature mask - green tea

The shop ladies were so sweet so one gave a couple sample of some O HUI products. I wish I knew more Korean--the most I could manage was the usual 안녕하세요~ and 감사합니다 but for now, that's about it. I did understand the "what can I help you find today" but I forget how to say it now, aahaha....!

Just wishing I had bought that peach sherbet cleansing balm before now, since now it's even harder to find online.... :~(


ulta

I didn't really go into ULTA with intentions of buying anything either but I decided to use the coupon and pick up a couple things. The aloe gel is for my body and also to compare with the Holika Holika aloe gel. I also had a coupon in my email for a free Julep lip gloss but since they were out of stock, the cashier gave me an ABH one instead (not really sure what shade yet).

• tony moly panda's dream cooling eye stick
• skinfood aloe vera soothing gel

forever21

I bought a cute floral dress (to wear probably on a date) and some cute heart earrings but I also picked up these two masks, primarily for review.

• berrisom animal mask - blackberry
• tosowoong pure propolis mask sheet

This will be a quick post, but I wanted to share something that came in the mail...and a little dose of (gross) #bblogger reality!

Hello!!!! It's time for a collective haul from Amazon, since now all my items finally arrived of this particular Amazon order (I can write this post!)!!!


I wrote in the beginning of April when I received my two tubes of snail goop, and posted my initial first impression thoughts about the CosRX Low pH Good Morning Gel Cleanser. Since then, I've used about 2/3 of the tube of the cleanser and one tube of the snail gel.

Also after much waiting, I finally got my hands on my second bottle of Hada Labo's Gokujun lotion. I had been eager to repurchase since about late-January but had been a a bit of a no-buy until now.

I ordered March 24th from Samurai Japan and it arrived safety at some point on May 10th, in a padded paper envelope bag.  I paid USD$10.48--a good price, compared to Uwajimaya's usual $18 price tag--I'm uneasy about how long it takes to arrive from Japan. I'm prepared for the month, maybe even six weeks for an expected arrival for items that are shipping from Japan but when it pushes closer to eight weeks, it's not worth it for the savings.

Plus, it's a liquid and I imagine this has spend a little longer going through customs. So my advice is try order with Prime; order from a US-based seller or suck it in and buy from a local Asian market (Uwajimaya) and deal with the markup, for instant gratification.


I say all this because my skin has grown to really love Hada Labo's Gokujun lotion. I mean, really love it. SO much so that I've noticed fine lines and general dryness returning on my skin after I ran out of first bottle earlier in January, and nothing could relieve it.

I need to face it: my skin is highkey thirsting after HL!! And, I just might have a HG product in my midst! (Or mist...)

Also included were two samples~~


Yay!