Hauliday at Sephora!

Hauliday! Holiday! Hauliday! Pardon my weak pun. :P

But yes, I went on a haul at Sephora today! I started work at the crack of dawn and was done by mid morning and I thought since I was already out, why not head somewhere. And that 'somewhere' was Sephora. :D

(From top, clockwise) Smashbox Full Exposure Palette, Tarte Amazonian Clay Waterproof 12h Concealer, Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara (mini version), Benefit Porefessional (mini version), Tarte Amazonian Clay 12h blush, Nyx Butter Gloss

Smashbox Full Exposure Palette

Honestly, I bought more than what I intended to and this palette is one of my 'unintended' buys. I've been looking up on eyeshadow palettes with a good mix of neutrals. The ones I have considered are the Too Faced Chocolate Bar, Too Faced Natural Eyes, Lorac Pro Palette, Zoeva Naturally Yours and so on. You get the drift. I saw ilikewyelie used the Smashbox Full Exposure Palette in one of her videos and I was won over by it. The mattes looked like they will work well on my tan skin, and she did a beautiful look with this palette on her monolid eyes. 

The palette also has a mix of warm and cool tones unlike the Naked palettes. I own a Naked 2 and I'm still trying to love it. :(

I read some negative reviews on this palette so it's a little worrying. I really hope this palette will be worth the buck! I don't want to have another underused palette sitting in my drawer.

Tarte Amazonian Clay 12h Blush in Blissful

This is one item I set out to buy! I don't have many blushes; the ones I have are from the Japanese brand Brigette. They are pretty with a slight shimmer in them. So I don't have a matte blush and recently, I've been very aware of my pores. O_O They look larger than usual. 

I went to the store and swatched the Tarte blushes and had initially settled on the shade Captivating, which is a warm peach. But the sales assistant encouraged me to consider Blissful because she felt Captivating may have too much orange for my skin tone. I was hesitant about Blissful as it has more pink in it compared to Captivating and pink blushes don't suit me. 

Blissful swatched on skin

She asked me to wait for a couple of minutes for the blushes to settle on her skin. The colours did change a little when they react with skin temperature. Captivated became quite orangey and the colour looked like it may be a little muddy on me. Blissful, on the other hand, became a well-balanced peach with an obvious pink undertone. The SA then tried Blissful on me and it really perked up my look, which was great because I only had less than 8 hours of sleep over the past two days and I looked washed out. 

Tarte Amazonian Clay Waterproof 12h Concealer

An intended buy! Looking for a waterproof concealer with good coverage for my blemishes and spots. Bought the shade light medium honey.

Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara

Not an intended buy! I already have my HG Majolica Majorca mascara but I thought the small size will be great when I need to pack my staying-at-the-boyfriend's make up bag.

Benefit Porefessional Face Primer

Semi-intended buy because of my pores. T_T I am using the Motives Perfecting Face Primer and it's good - doesn't break me out, keeps my make up for a longer period. But somehow it does nothing to minimise the appearance of my pores. Hopefully, this Benefit primer will do the job.

Nyx Butter Gloss

Semi-intended! The reason is I currently don't own a single lip gloss. I know. As for the shade, I could only find 'BL G07' on it but I suspect it may be Creme Brulee? 

I got a freebie from Sephora too - their Beauty on the Fly make up pouch! I was thinking of getting a bigger make up pouch so I can dump more stuff in it so this is timely! The only downside is it's clear, which means my boyfriend can see its content. I tend to hide my purchases from him because he is VERY thrifty. :X

That's all for this haul! This post took me close to 4 hours to compete! And it's all thanks to this princess:

My boyfriend's cat Dewey who is the boss of me. She was whining for my attention. I had to accompany her while she was napping on the sofa. It's crazy how she is so similar to a toddler.

Thank you for reading!

Haul: iHerb Physician's Formula Shimmer Strip, Elf Stipple Brush, Mane 'n Tail & More

To that person who introduced iHerb to me: THANK YOU!

iHerb is an online site where they sell a ton of health and organic products ranging from vitamins, organic food, body care and make up. You can find lots of products from the US that are not commonly available here in Singapore.

I ordered some stuff from iHerb last week and items swiftly arrived within a week. The mail man was knocking the door down in the morning and thankfully my sister got to the door fast because boy, this haul is heavy.

A number of these products are repurchases. I tried them out at my boyfriend's house and dang, I knew I will eventually get them myself because they are gooood.

1. Alaffia, Authentic African Black Soap, Tangerine Citrus

I bought this Alaffia Black Soap because I heard how black soap can be really beneficial for the skin. The scent is very citrusy but not too overpowering. A good scent in general. I tried it once with a loofah and whoa, this thing is MOISTURISING. The soap is very smooth and slightly thick, and after rinsing it off, my skin feels very moisturised. This soap will come in handy when I need a good boost for my skin but I doubt I will use this everyday as it can be a little too much for our humid weather. 

Apparently, this soap can be used on your hair, body and face. And can also work as a shaving soap, hand soap and general household cleanse. Basically, everything. I will try this out on my hair but not my face - not going to take chances with my sensitive skin.

2. Mane 'n Tail, And Body Shampoo & Conditioner, Moisturizer-Texturizer (Repurchase)

I was skeptical of this when I first saw it in my boyfriend's house. He got it because it was cheap and the shampoo can be used to wash animals = super value for money. The shampoo and conditioner both do not have much fragrance unlike the other shampoos out there. You also do not get much soap suds from them and your hair doesn't feel super smooth after the wash. BUT the magic happens the next day. I woke up to a head of tame and manageable hair. It seems the shampoo and conditioner helped to normalise my hair. 

I started using this the same time as some of my friends and we all noted one thing - your hair grows faster when you use Mane 'n Tail. The two of us cut our hair short around the same time and we noticed how much faster our hair was growing. Which is why I am using Mane 'n Tail religiously now after a bad haircut gave me random short layers on the left of my head. We use the shampoo on our cat too and notice her coat becoming thicker. ;)

The 946ml bottles can be found in Singapore at Watsons but they cost S$29.90 each! I bought them on iHerb for only around S$10.00 each.

3. Physicians Formula Shimmer Strip Custom Bronzer, Blush & Eyeshadow

I've been eyeing this Shimmer Strip after I watched youtuber KathleenLights raved about it. Was very excited to try this out but now I am sorely disappointed. The formula is rather chalky, not smooth and difficult to blend. The pigmentation is quite lacking. I tried it first as a blush and the colours were concentrated on the areas when the brush first landed and I had problems blending it out. When I used it as an eyeshadow, the individual colours barely showed and again it was chalky on my eyelid and blending was painful.

I see so many great reviews of this and I wanted to like it so badly, but I just guess this Shimmer Strip and me are not meant to be.

4. Elf Studio Stipple Brush

The stipple brush is one of Elf's bestsellers and I've read some good reviews about it. I've only used it twice for the Physician's Formula shimmer strip so I can't say much about it yet, but I am not impressed. It could be just me having issues with the shimmer strip but the brush also seems rather sparse, not as full as what is depicted in the product photo.

After getting this, I realised I already have a stipple brush and it's by VDL.

From here on, the products are all edible foodstuff:

5. Alive Multi Vitamins Adult Gummies (Repurchase)

Bought these for my brother because he can't swallow pills for nuts, and these gummies contain a good mix of vitamins for adults.

6. Really Raw Honey (Repurchase)

This honey is the bomb. It contains pollen, propolis & honeycomb so you can see the bits in the bottle. The bits are chewy and I enjoy the added texture while I use this honey in my chamomile tea. It has slight floral scent too. You can find this in Singapore but at an insane price of S$40! I got this bomb on iHerb for only S$19.39. 

7. MaraNatha No Stir Almond Butter

Peanut butter fan? Checked.

Healthy food junkie? Checked.

It's healthier than peanut butter and also less salty. This creamy highness is heavenly on toast. I tried this once in my boyfriend's house and I never looked back!

That's it for my iHerb haul! Shipping to Singapore is free when you spend more than S$80. I saved around S$60 from buying the honey and Mane 'n Tail products from iHerb. Woohoo!