421. Beauty Haul

Recently I've been really into beauty products: both skincare and makeup. I've also been really into watching makeup tutorials and "beauty haul" videos on YouTube, so I got inspired to create one myself..after being inspired to do a lot of beauty products shopping, of course. & I (finally) got around to cleaning and re-organizing my bathroom as you can see in the photo above and the last few photos of this post. So I thought I would create this post to show you some of my favourite products and to give a quick review on new things I've been trying!

Here's my beauty purchases of March so far. I usually don't buy this much in a month. Most of these are just replenishing old products I've been using regularly already.

Here are my new Sigma brushes. I was always pretty simple with my brushes..having just one for the face (foundation) and eyes (eyeshadow)..then for the occasional times I used bronzer I just used the little kabuki brush that came with it (the Diorskin Nude Tan one). Then I found out I might be allergic to the little kabuki brush or the bronzer so I stopped using it. I researched a bit and now I have this Chanel cream bronzer next on my list to buy. I found that the Sigma Angled Kabuki brush is apparently really good for that bronzer. So long story short - I ended up getting it along with some other Sigma brushes (which after more research I found out they seem to make some of the best quality brushes, at great prices too). Since I was never an expert on all the different makeup brushes, I can't really give a review of these yet. However I really love them so far!

The Chanel Perfection Lumiere Velvet liquid foundation is my favourite ever!! I have been using it for about a year now, around when it was first released I think? I was buying something else at the time, and the sales associate gave me a sample to try. Immediately I knew it was going to be my new foundation. Before that, I've used/sampled many different brands but didn't really love any of them and I have sensitive skin which did not react well with most of them. I was so happy to have found this. First of all, it smells really nice (like most Chanel skincare/beauty products). It feels really lightweight on the skin, spreads easily and evenly, and the bottle lasts a long time. I use foundation every day. I think a bottle lasts me a 1.5-2 months or more.

On to the Le Blanc de Chanel Illuminating Base..I actually haven't used this that much yet. I got it a couple weeks ago but so far only tried it maybe 3 times. I didn't feel it made a huge difference to my skin or foundation. It is kind of difficult to spread evenly though so that's why I haven't really been using it but I will try more before giving it a proper review. It has a nice scent though.

The DiorShow Waterproof Eyeliner - this is now my favourite eyeliner. It's easy to apply, very long lasting and works great with the Sigma Pencil brush (smudges out very nicely). The only downside is it seems to not last me very long. I go through any eyeliner really quickly anyway but I found with this one, I use it up the quickest.

This is my first eyeshadow purchase from Chanel..I really love it. It is the Chanel Les 4 Ombres - Tisse Gabrielle. So far I mostly use the cream, silver/grey and black shades. Purple doesn't look that good on me I think. The shades blend together really nicely and are really long lasting.

Kiehl's cleanser, eye cream, mask, moisturiser and Estee Lauder serum. Years ago when I was first old enough to do a full skincare routine morning and night, I started with Dior skincare products. Back then I was just getting into designer stuff and Dior was my absolute FAVOURITE for literally everything (John Galliano was probably the main reason for this. Actually, John Galliano for Dior was one of the main reasons I got into fashion) so my mom would get me the skincare products which encouraged me to take the time to go through the full regimen daily, but not for long. Eventually I got lazy with it. For some reason I then switched over to Chanel skincare. Then Estee Lauder, then Laneige, and now Kiehl's (& Estee Lauder). I just found this old post during my Estee Lauder transition to Laneige days hahah..wow I had so much of it saved up back then. You can also see my obsession with Dior foundations. Around Christmas in 2014, I got one of those Holt Renfrew shopping cards in the mail (spend over $-- to get $-- back on a gift card..or something like that). I decided to get Chanel skincare again so I got a set and unfortunately this time around, my skin reacted badly to it. I thought it was going to be fine since their makeup is great for me and I used their skincare before..but that wasn't the case. I returned it all and decided to try a brand I knew was good for sensitive skin - Kiehl's (luckily also much less expensive than Chanel). So that's the story of my skincare journey all these years lol. I just realized how much I'm writing for this post..I wasn't planning on making it so extensive! Hope you're not getting bored.

A quick review:

Kiehl's Ultra Facial Oil-Free Cleanser: this is my second one. It's a really nice cleanser..gentle on the skin but doesn't remove makeup so I always have to be sure to remove it all first with another makeup remover.

Kiehl's Rare Earth Pore Cleansing Masque: the first at-home masque I ever purchased..I've done masques before at facials but never got one for home because I was always too lazy and was afraid my skin was too sensitive for most masques anyway. I decided to try this one and I really love it. It smells really good, feels really gentle and refreshing on the skin and does brighten up my skin every time I use it. It's probably my favourite product from Kiehl's I've tried so far.

Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream: before this moisturizer, I was using their oil-free gel cream (same line as my cleanser) but during the winter that one is definitely not moisturizing enough. I got this one a week and a half ago and have been using it every day. It definitely made an improvement so far.

Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado: whenever my mom got me new skincare stuff before, she'd always get me eye cream as well but it was one of the products I rarely used as I was lazy and just put moisturizer over my eye areas as well in one go, when applying it to my face. I never saw the point of having a different cream for the eyes. Actually I still kind of don't lol..but figured it must have a good use so decided to get this one to try. So far, it kind of stings my eyes which is not helping in my attempt to start using eye cream...but the sales associate told me to keep trying a few more weeks to see if it gets better. On the topic of products I'm too lazy to use, I also skip the "toner" step a lot (hence the reason why I don't have a toner purchased here)..I actually threw away a full/unopened bottle of Laneige toner recently as I never used it and it expired =\ I also still have the Kiehl's one I purchased several months ago..used maybe 10 times total? I don't know if it makes much of a different if I use it or not, and I found it actually dries out my skin a bit so I stopped using it. I know this post is getting super long now and if anyone is still reading at this point...what's your opinion of this? (I am asking those of you who do use the eye cream and toner and if you think there is an actual benefit) Skincare is really tricky and difficult to test the effectiveness of products..for each product you have to use it for at least a month to see results anyway (if any) but it all happens so gradually you won't really know if it was the cause of the product or if it would've happened even if you didn't use it.

MOVING ON!

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum: back then, I used to use an Estee Lauder day serum and an Estee Lauder night serum. I went through so many of these! (see the old post I linked to earlier in this post..) Now, since I'm purchasing my own skincare and this is ridiculously expensive ($115? I think..don't remember) I decided to just get a night time one. Right before this, I used the Kiehl's clearly corrective serum which I felt made no difference for me. So I went back to Estee Lauder as I know they make the best serums. To be honest I am not sure if serums make a difference for me if I use them or not. I always just get them though as they all have cute bottles.

The Kerastase Nutri-Thermique Masque. As many people may know, I have a lot of hair. My hair is really thick and long and a hassle to maintain (especially after years of dyeing & bleaching). I've tried a couple different brands of hair masques before and this is by far my favourite. But unfortunately, also ridiculously expensive. It's the only one that makes a noticeable different to my hair in terms of texture/softness..recently I found this huge tub of it for $95 + tax (500ml). Usually it's like $50 for only 200ml which lasts..a month? So this one better last a long time & continue working well for me.

& finally nail polish which I went through an addiction phase with and purchased so many different bottles of extremely similar shades just so I could find the perfect shade. I still haven't achieved that with the light blue - I'm looking for a very pale light blue colour. My favourite pink is OPI - Live Love Carnival. I re-purchased it again after I nearly finished my first bottle (which rarely happens).

Here is my washroom counter corner..the Russian military hat and my mason jar of makeup brushes. The mason jar is a bit too tall so I need to find one slightly shorter.

My Evian bottles by Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Lacroix

I can't believe this post was so long. Not sure if any of you read through it..if you did, hopefully you found something useful in there. I guess all this makes up for the lack of posts on my blog recently?

FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | BLOGLOVIN'