Haul - April and May part 2

What? Surprised?
Of course there was going to be a part 2. Because when I haul, I mean business.

When Berdever was running a promotion on A-True in April, it was the perfect occasion to snatch the entire White Snow Tea series.

I got:
A-True White Snow Tea Brilliant Essence (nobody does essences like A-True)
and
A-True White Snow Tea Brilliant Toner
and
A-True White Snow Tea Brilliant Aurora Cream.

If you get the distinct impression that I prefer to buy the entire lines of products, you are absolutely correct. I do mix and match in my skincare routine. But to form an opinion about a brand, or a line, I think it's a good idea to try everything, at least as samples.

And speaking of samples:

This was a calculated risk. I got 30 of each:
su:m37 Flawless Regenerating Essence
and
su:m37 Flawless Regenerating Eye Cream (my love!)
and
su:m37 Secret Repair Concentrated Cream.

The Flawless duo was legit, I checked it against the authentic samples I had from before.

But the Secret Repair foils got me thinking. Some were printed a bit sloppily. I started to compare the contents, foil to foil. In some the cream looked bright and fresh. And in some it looked and smelled like old butter. It's possible those were old samples. Or it's possible they were otherwise dodgy.

I wanted to provide a link to the ebay store where I got it from, but, wouldn't you know it, that particular seller (fortunebox_maker) is no longer selling. Oh well... moving on...

I was curious about this Privacy UV Gel BB SPF50+ PA++++:

Originally I wanted to get Privacy UV Face Mist, but it was all sold out.
So I took the very last UV Gel BB off the shelf.
According to the ingredients, it's alcohol-free.

And even though it comes out greyish pink out of the tube, once on the skin, it matches my complexion perfectly.
I'm very pleased.

And ladies, if you are looking for a matte BB cream, you need to look for a Japanese product.
If you want dewy glow, then choose a Korean cream.

And finally, placenta lotion!

The snobs of this world may shun placenta, but luckily I'm not that picky.
This is a huge bottle (500 ml) of alcohol-free placenta goodness. And it was ridiculously cheap, too. Around 1000 yen.

Yes, I was skeptical in the beginning. I didn't think this would do anything. And maybe what it does is just a placebo effect. But I'm happy. It calms my angry skin, it doesn't break me out, it doesn't smell, it's not greasy. What more could you want? Oh, yeah, and did I mention it's cheap? Yep. It's cheap.

And that concludes episode 2 of my April-May hauling adventure.

Haul - April and May part 1

And maybe a bit of March too.

It felt good to take a break from blogging, even if it was a bit of a forced absence.
But the fact that I wasn't here doesn't mean that I wasn't shopping. Shopping for skincare, that is.

I always feel very awkward doing these haul posts, because then I have to face up to the fact that I buy a lot of stuff. And by "a lot", I mean a freakin' truckload of face goo every month.
That's the bad part.

The good part is that all of this gets used up fairly quickly.

So, let's get going.

Last weekend I had to go to Tokyo to take care of some urgent matters, and I wouldn't be myself if I didn't pop in to Shin Okubo.

I got these at Skinholic:

The Saem Gem Miracle Black Pearl O2 Bubble Mask
and
The Saem Gem Miracle Black Pearl O2 CC Cream

It's only been one week, and I can tell that I quite like both of them.
I like them so much that I don't even want to look at the ingredient lists. Though I know that at some point I will have to.

I will definitely look for other items in this line.

It was quite a shock to see Whamisa at Skinholic:

Whamisa Organic Flower Fermented Cream
and
Whamisa Organic Flower Fermented Milk
and
Whamisa Organic Flower Fermented Lotion

What is this world coming to?
And what happened to the usual assortment of It's Skins and Tony Molys?

Anyway, I haven't had a chance to try these yet, because, sorry, I mean, I only have one face. Even though it's a pretty big one.

And this is the place where I got TheSaem and Whamisa:

My cushion hauling (yes, I know, I need more cushions like a pig needs a tutu) I showed before on instagram. Here's the photo:

TGI Wholesale is always very generous with samples. There were even more samples in that particular package. Lots and lots of them.

One day when I found myself away from home and without my usual skincare, I was forced, or rather, I forced myself, to get this DHC set:

DHC Kakon Juka cream
and
DHC Kakon Juka Lotion
and
DHC Kakon Juka Essence

In my defense, they were all on sale. Of course I got it at a local drugstore for a lot less than what's listed on the American website. I think the whole set cost me the equivalent of about 30 dollars.

I like it. Especially the lotion is nice.

And while we are talking about DHC:

DHC Cleansing Oil
and
Bifesta 2 phase Eye Makeup Remover

These are my cleansing staples and as soon as I finish one bottle, I buy another.

And speaking of cleansing:

This is my Derizum haul.

Derizum Pure Ceramide Lotion
Derizum Pure Ceramide Face Wash
Derizum Pure Ceramide Cleansin Water
and
Derizum Pure Ceramide Cream


Let's just say this is my discovery of the year.
Cheap, effective, meant for sensitive skin. Love it.

This shampoo and conditioner set comes from the same company that makes Derizum:

Ayurbio Damaged Extra Rich Shampoo
and
Ayurbio Damaged Extra Rich Treatment

Not sure what to think of them just yet. But then again, my hair is quite demanding.

I couldn't resist these lip glosses.
I mean, hello? Jill Stuart?
I buy.

Jill Stuart Lip Jewel in 01 Catseye Wink (top)
and
Jill Stuart Lip Jewel in 06 Amethyst Dew (bottom).


I restocked on face masks too:

Ainz & Tulpe had My Beauty Diary sheet masks on sale, and then I had a coupon, so it would be stupid not to buy.


And I was looking forward to trying something whitening:

Vercell-ity Absolute White Essence.
No idea how it's going to perform.
Let's see.


And finally - sunblock haul of 2015.

Lately I've been getting a lot of questions about Japanese sunblocks that are alcohol-free. And though personally I don't mind alcohol in my sunblocks (in some cases I even prefer "alcoholic" formulas), by popular demand, this year I decided to give alcohol-free sunblocks a chance.

Shiseido SunMedic is probably the most famous drugstore alcohol-free Japanese sunblock.
I didn't beat around the bush and got 3 different types: the normal waterproof one, the whitening one, and the "delicate" skin one.

I have used SunMedic before and I liked it, but that was before I started to blog about the all the random stuff I put on my face.

Buying these Dr. Ci:Labo thingies made me officially an old, oh pardon mua, a mature woman:

Dr. Ci:Labo UV&White Moisture Gel
and
Dr. Ci:Labo UV&White Enrich-Lift

Both feel nice on the skin. It's definitely rich, it's definitely for a "mature" woman (like me!) with "mature" skin (like mine!) that needs moisture (like mine again!). But let me use them for a few more weeks. Then, hopefully, I'll be able to tell you more.

It was a very nice surprise to find so many alcohol-free sunblocks right at my dinky little countryside drugstore.

I had no idea that both Solanoveil and Skin Aqua had alcohol-free options. Hopefully someday Biore will catch on, too.

I discovered Jewel Pinky last year, but back then I couldn't care less about formulas and ingredients. So imagine my surprise when I read on the box I got this week that it's alcohol-free, paraben-free, mineral oil-free and so on...
It's a great sunblock, especially, if you can't afford Astalift Perfect Protector. Jewel Pinky makes a worthy astaxanthin substitute. Though as my commenter, who's familiar with Jewel Pinky, observed, it's definitely for those of us with dry skin.

More cheap alcohol-free sunblocks:

Matsumoto Kiyoshi store brand is ethanol-free? Who would have thought?
So apparently is Sunplay Superblock.
I was stupid when I bought it. I should have noticed that it's actually made in Vietnam. Oh well...

But as an aside, I know that Sun Bears are becoming very popular among foreign fans of Japanese sunblocks, mainly due to their low price and lack of ethanol in the ingredients. However, Sun Bears are made in Thailand. So even though they are technically alcohol-free, I didn't buy any Sun Bears sunscreens during my UV shopping spree.

I did buy this Sunkiller Perfect Strong Moisture. Yep, it's alcohol-free. And yep, it's cheap.
Cezanne UV Cut Base 50 is technically a base/sunblock combo. It was cheap, so I bought it.

But wait!
There's more!

Shigaisen Yohou Whitening
and
Shigaisen Yohou Non-Chemical

These two are new to me, I haven't tried them yet.

And finally Minon Amino Moist UV Base.
Oh my lovely, where have you been all my life???

This is an awesome base. It blurs, it primes, it moisturizes, it has SPF47 PA+++. It's reasonably priced (considering it's Minon). I love it!

And that's all the haulings I remembered to take photos of.

A separate sunblock post will be coming up as soon as I thoroughly test all this alcohol-free goodness. If I feel ambitious I might even translate the ingredient lists.

So that's it for today.
Now let me figure out where I can watch the Eurovision Song Contest online.

Update: Sweden won. Oh well, I thought the song was just so so. I preferred Italy. Whoa! Since when such handsome guys sing popera?

Haul - January and February

I've been accused of being lazy. And rightly so.
I have a sick backlog of posts that so far exist only as drafts, and gods know when they will see the light of internet. 
So, in order to lessen the load, I decided to join the throngs of beauty shopping addicts and start to at least throw a haul post here and there, from time to time.
Some of it you could see on IG already, but since not everyone is on IG, I got requests to share my recent haulings on the blog as well.


Zarzucono mi lenistwo. I slusznie.
Mam niesamowita ilosc wpisow, ktore jak na razie, istnieja tylko w formie "draft" i bukwi kiedy ujrza swiatlo internetu.
Wiec, zeby sie po trochu zmobilizowac, postanowilam przylaczyc sie do rzeszy kosmetycznych zakupoholiczek i wrzucac podsumowania zakupowe od czasu do czasu.
Zazwyczaj laduja one na instagramie, ale poniewaz nie kazdy jest na IG, dostalam maile z prosbami, zeby wstawiac wpisy zakupowe rowniez na bloga.

~~~

OK, so here we go.

This one might be back from as far as the end of December:

No to jadymy z tym koksem.
Ten tutaj jest chyba z konca grudnia:

The famous Lalavesi Akma Cushion "Ice Cute" Special Edition.
I bought it, because just look at that compact! Mine!!!

Slynna poduszka Lalavesi Akma Cushion w limitowanej wersji "Ice Cute".
Kupilam ja, bo ten kompakt! Moj!!!

~~~

While in Taiwan I didn't do as much shopping as I had planned. Simply because everything was ridiculously expensive. More so than in Japan.
I did get a few sheet masks. 

Na Tajwanie nie szalalam z zakupami, bo bylo po prostu drogo. Drozej niz w Japonii.
Ale kupilam troche masek:

The My Beauty Diary sake masks were very very nice. The broccoli ones - not so much.

Sake maski My Beauty Diary byly bardzo mile. Te brokulowe juz duzo mniej.

~~~

I also got this Dr. Wu set:

Wzielam tez ten zestaw od Dr. Wu:

I wanted a ceramide set from For My Beloved, but it was sold out at every duty free place I looked. 

I couldn't find anything that interested me at the airport. I checked a few highly recommended things that turned out to be less than satisfying in real life.
Eventually, all I got was a couple of things from Anna Sui:


Chcialam zestaw ceramidowy od For My Beloved, ale w kazdym miejscu wolnoclowym byl wyprzedany.

Na lotniskach nie widzialam nic szczegolnego. Pomacalam kilka rzeczy, ktore byly upierdliwie polecane, ale na zywo wypadly bardzo blado.
W koncu jedyne co kupilam to dwie rzeczy od Anny Sui:

And this fragrance:

I ten tutaj zapach:

And I'm very pleased with both if them.

My obsession with A-True continues:


Z obu jestem bardzo zadowolona.

Moja obsesja A-True nadal trwa:

And continues:

I trwa:

And finally, it was time for a new mascara:

I na koniec, nowy tusz do rzes, bo potrzebowalam:

The kafunsho season has just started but so far so good and I'm happy with this combo from Dior.

Do you want to see more haul posts?
Yea or nay?

Have a great week everybody!
Monday is almost upon us.
Yuck!

Pora na alergie wlasnie sie zaczela, ale po tygodniu uzywania tej pary od Diora nie mam na co narzekac.

Czy mam wstawiac wpisy zakupowe czesciej?
Tak? Nie?

Poniedzialek juz prawie z nami, wiec zycze wszystkim pomyslnego tygodnia!
Nie dajcie sie! Bedzie dobrze! Do weekendu tylko 5 dni!