Random collective shopping haul part 1

Hi kawans!! Happy Halloween! If you're looking for a spooky post, unfortunately this isn't one. Instead, this is going to be a 2 part blog post where in this part I'll be talking about a mixture of stuff I hauled over the past few months and the next part will be dedicated to a few purchases of mine from Althea. It'll be too long for me to combine my general haul + Althea haul so I figured that I might as well just break this into a 2 part post.

Before anything else, here's a quick life update! I've recently went back to being a student through an online diploma program. I'll be pretty busy and sleep deprived again. I'm in week 5 and I'm trying my best to meet my assignment deadlines. The school isn't giving me too much work but generally I'd consider myself to be really weak in this particular subject so it's definitely gonna take a while for me to cope with the course work.

Now let's take a look at what are some random goodies/necessities I bought over the past few months!

Japan beauty goods.

My boyfriend was in Japan last month so naturally I would get him to be my personal shopper. I'm actually visiting Japan this coming December but the itch to buy Japanese beauty goods will always be there. So when I knew Yhang was going to Japan for holiday, I began thinking up a few goodies he could bring home for me! Literally was texting him photos and prices of everything I want and he also brought me necklace shopping at Harajuku via Facetime lol!

First up is this pack of LuLuLun(pink) face masks meant for moisture balance. I bought the pack with 36 sheets for 1,500yen and I think the price is very affordable seeing that one sheet is only about RM1.5. This is probably the cheapest facial sheet mask I've ever came across!

However the thing is, I do kind of regret asking Yhang to get this for me because when he was in Japan, I have just opened up the LuLuLun pink series 7-sheet pack I had on hands and despite not liking the results after first use, I still texted my bf telling him to buy the 36 sheets pack home for me simply because I was waiting for a miracle that one day my skin would start loving this super popular mask :))) and boy did I learn my lesson.

My skin has been extremely picky with skincare and basically the LuLuLun pink series is just a little too drying for my skin and on top of that my face seems to be getting tiny tiny bumps ever since I started using it (I was using it daily). I'll admit, I'm really stubborn and I really didn't want to give up on a product I've been dying to try for years(plus, how cool is it to have a 'tissue box of sheet masks') so I gave it another half a month to test it out(bad idea) before concluding that some sheet masks just aren't for everyone no matter how many people out there loves it.

I have slightly more than half a packet of these masks left and because they're not individually packed, I'm not gonna offer it to friends/family that actually loves this mask. I probably wouldn't throw em away either because Yhang went through a lot of trouble to get em so I guess my knees are up for some daily mask-pamper session! This tip I learn from my bestie one!!! Face mask expired? Nevermind, leg mask day!

Mentioned product: LuLuLun Sheet Mask moisture balance - Japan drug store/local resellers

Apart from their pink series, I also got their blue one. I have never tried this before so I only bought the 7-sheets pack and after trying it for two days, I wish I told Yhang to buy the 36-sheets pack of this blue one instead of the pink! The 7-days Blue series retails for 400 yen per pack(about RM2.5/sheet) and it's meant for intensive moisture care.

After disliking the pink one, I was very skeptical to try this blue one but I did so anyways. Thank goodness, the LuLuLun blue mask series definitely felt way more moisturizing than the pink one and it did not leave my skin feeling rough either. First impressions of this mask - My skin felt a little softer and moisturized but I also noticed that it felt a tiny tiny bit oily after use. Nonetheless, this mask breathed hope back to my views on LuLuLun and I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of their sheet masks. I'm especially curious to try their Premium, One, and Plus series!

Mentioned product: LuLuLun Sheet Mask (pink) moisture balance - Japan drug store/local resellers

One fine day browsing instagram stories, I saw Arisa talking about these Unicharm Silcot Sponge Touch Moisturizing/Uru uru cotton pads and I immediately ping Yhang to buy a box back. I'm not picky when it comes to cotton pads but I think I was just curious to try some premium ones :x

Anyways this box of cotton pads was sold out at many drugstores in Tokyo. Yhang went through a ton of trouble looking for these but ayyyy, in the end he found em!! If only I did more research, he wouldn't have to go through so much hassle looking for a box of cotton pads hahaha. Turns out our local Watsons sells em here for RM8.40 :')))  Paiseh ^^"

Unicharm sells several types of cotton pads, each serving a different purpose. To take a look on the other cotton pads from Silcot you can check em out here! But the 'cool thing' about this cotton pad is that it's supposed to help you save on toner/essence. Some times I'll apply toner straight with my hands just so I can let no product go to waste but lately I've went back to cotton pads so my toner is going pretty quickly. This box contains 40puffs and each puff can be split into 2 pieces so since it's a little thinner, you'll need lesser toner/essence to soak up the cotton pad. Btw, the two golden stickers on the top left corner states that this cotton pads is a Cosme Award winner for 2 years straight! I can't read Japanese so I'm not sure what category is it ><

Mentioned product: Unicharm Silcot Sponge Touch Moisturizing Cotton Pads - Japan drug store/Watsons online/possibly Jaya Grocer (Starling)

Next purchase was from Watsons online. I've never bought anything from their e-store before but it had the sheet masks I wanted so I decided to give it a go.

Parcel arrived a few days later packed with air bags for protection purposes.

Here's what I bought. 3 sheets of ceLABrity sheet masks from Get It Beauty. From left to right, ceLABrity VFit Facial mask(RM15.84), Shining Mask(RM11.13), and Pure Mask(RM11.13). There were only 3 available and currently I'm waiting for them to bring in the Aqua mask from this series so I could try it as well. In case you don't remember, Get It Beauty is a Korean Beauty talk show and they recently did a collab with Althea! I first came across their sheet masks at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. At that time, I only bought one thinking if I wanted to try the rest of the sheet masks, I can always find em in KL. However the only Watsons store in the mall I visit for groceries isn't selling em so instead of trying my luck with another store I just went ahead and order em online here. So far I've tried the green one that contains Centella Asiatica and I think its not bad. I'll have a review up on it somewhere in November, so just wait til then haha!

Aunty tip! Watsons is currently have 60% off members discount for these sheet masks on their e-store. I'm not sure if this promo is available at their physical store but just wanted to quickly include this for anyone interested.

Mentioned product: Get It Beauty ceLABrity VFit Facial Mask / ceLABrity Shining Mask / ceLABrity Pure Mask - Watsons online

Really random purchase hahahaah but I also picked up a Betadine mouth wash before checking out. I get tonsillitis pretty often and ever since a doctor included this in my 'medication', I always make sure to have a bottle at home. I know I should probably go for tonsil removal surgery but I'm just super scared!! Anyways, from so many doctor visits I learned that whenever I feel like the tonsillitis is coming back I'll always gargle with this Betadine mouth wash and drop by the pharmacy to pick up a box of Strepsils Max Pro. Strepsils Max Pro is actually medicated strepsils and can only be purchased over the pharmacy counter/doctor so please take it accordingly to your prescription.

Mentioned product: Betadine Mouth wash - Watsons online

Beauty steals I bought from friends?

You know the saying "buy first, regret later"? As a fellow beauty hoarder a.k.a I buy a lot of beauty products but I may not necessarily use em, after a while I'll do an online clearance sales for the products I don't plan on using!! Since I'm the type that does such 'sales' I too have a tendency to look out for good deals from my friends' clearance sales! Here are two things I picked up.

Jerlynn'L Hair Conditioner & Detangler. I tried this previously when I attended Butterfly project's birthday party last year. They held two parties and one of it was sponsored by Jerlynn'L. This conditioner was included in our Jerlynn'L goodie back and ever since then I've fell in love with it but I never got around repurchasing it because I find it a little pricy. Many probably don't know this but I'm actually very stingy when it comes to hair products so when I saw my friend Anis selling this in her pre-loved/beauty clearance sales and since it's unopened + discounted I immediately bought it from her!

Mentioned product: Jerlynn'L Hair Conditioner & Detangler - kawan, but you can find it at Jerlynn'L e-store.

Another 'beauty clearance sale' purchase was this Laneige Water Sleeping Mask I bought from Tammy! I've used Laneige's water sleeping mask for years and I'm sure this baby needs no introduction because it's a well-known cult favourite. In fact it's on so many people's holy grail list including mine. I bought it from mamasan two months ago as a backup because I was running out of mine.

But but but!! Y'know, a lot can happen in two months? I've been watching a lot of Liah Yoo's videos lately and she keeps using COSRX's Ultimate Nourishing Rice Overnight Spa Mask so you can say I'm prettyyyy tempted to try it. Luckily, my bestie was running out of her Laneige sleeping mask and the minute she said she'll buy this off me I immediately ordered the COSRX one!

I'm still in the midst of testing out the COSRX one and I kinda think that I still prefer the Laneige one more but I'll get back to everyone on that soon. However if you want my opinions on Laneige, just get it!!

Aunty tips!!! Sometimes buying these 'deluxe travel size' Laneige Sleeping Mask is cheaper than buying the full sized ones. However, if you plan on getting the full size ones, purchasing online is usually cheaper than in stores. The 70ml Laneige Water Sleeping Mask is retailing at Althea for RM77 while in-stores is usually RM100+. The lavender scented one is slightly pricier though.

You can also shop Althea via Shopback and you can get additional 5-7% cashback on top of any on-going promotions/promo codes. If you don't have an Althea/Shopback account, you can sign up via my link for discounts and I'll get a discount voucher too.

Mentioned product: Laneige Water Sleeping Mask - kawan, but you can get it on Laneige counters or Althea.

Contact lenses.

Bought all 3(grey, pink, and violet) of the LensMe Qlo Galaxy lens series a while back but I have yet to try em!! I know the hype's over but if anyone's interested I ordered mine from Ducky Lens Shop. I paid RM237 including postage for all 3 pairs and I swear this shop owner is one of the friendliest people I've ordered stuff from. I was overseas, missed my parcel, in the end the parcel was returned to the owner and she was nice enough to resend it very quickly(and this was just the brief version of my 'delivery mishaps') So purely on her customer service attitude, I recommend anyone looking for cosmetic lenses to check out her fb page :D

Mentioned product: LensMe Qlo Galaxy lens series - Ducky Lens Shop

This kinda feels like another random purchase but I just wanted to quickly mention that I restocked my Acuvue TruEye dailies recently right before my Sabah trip (and in the end I didn't even use them lol). They're really good but at the same time really pricey. I have sensitive eyes and so far this is the only pair of contact lenses I would 100% recommend getting if you have sensitive eyes like me and has some budget to spare.

The one I bought has 30-pieces/box and since my power is the same -2.00 on both sides, one box will last me for 15 days. The price for each box varies depending on the optic shop but I couldn't remember how much I paid for mine. 

Mentioned Product: Acuvue TruEye dailies - any local optic shop

Sephora Black card 20% sales.

If you guys watch my IG Stories, ya'll already know that I've recently splurged on a new set of makeup brushes and some cleansing wipes during the recent Sephora storewide 20% off black/gold card sale.

Zoeva brushes have been an all-time wishlist item for me, Morphe is my next goal btw *wink*. Each time I visit Sephora, I'll always itchy hands go touch touch all their displayed brushes and boy are they soft to touch. I also wanna quickly add that up til today, my brushes are mainly from Taobao and I'm still using my 7 year old Cerro Qreen 18-pieces brush set that I bought back then for like RM30?? This brand from China has really good quality brushes with an affordable price point so if you're looking for brushes with minimal budget, I recommend checking their T-Mall.

Anywaysssss, the star for today is this set of Zoeva Rose Golden Complete Brush Set vol.1. This set of 15 brushes is retailing on Sephora for RM466. I know, yikes. Among the 15 brushes features a mixture of face and eye makeup brushes. After 20% discount, I paid RM372.8 for the set.

I've had this in my cart for a long time but before this was released I initially wanted either the Rose Golden Complete Eye Set or the Zoeva Classic Brush Set. After debating for days, I've finally decided to treat myself to a set of Zoeva brushes and after working out the maths, I decided to go with the Complete Brush Set Vol.1 instead of the other two.

It came with a pouch for your brushes too!

Here is a sneak peak of how the brushes look like. I have yet to use em so I can't judge how well these brushes hold pigment but in general they feel really soft. I think if Taobao did not exist, I would've saved up and bought a set of Zoeva brushes years ago because if you really do the maths, the price of this brush set is actually not toooo bad for a mid-end brand. Simply said, it's on sale, I've wanted these for years and I'm just glad to finally cross it off my wishlist *cheers* 

Mentioned Product: Zoeva Rose Golden Complete Set Vol.1 - Sephora online/stores

I got this because I really like the cucumber scent. I have tried this in stores and it did remove my hand full of makeup swatches really well but I have yet to try it on my face so let's pray it works with my skin. Tbh these wipes, the matching lip balms and shower gels are probably my favourite Sephora house brand products. For anyone interested, this retails for RM27 and you can purchase em on Sephora.my or their stores.

Mentioned Product: Sephora Collection Cucumber Cleansing Face Wipes - Sephora online/stores

Beauty guru brands.

If anyone knows me, they'll know how much I look up to Michelle Phan. After all, she was the first beauty guru on Youtube I've stumbled upon that has taught me so many life and beauty tips right in front of my laptop screen. I won't go into how much I love Michelle today hahahahaha but I'm just here to quickly share about what I bought from EM Cosmetics, Michelle's very own beauty brand. I will be writing a review on these some time in November so please stay tuned for that. For today let's just keep this as short as simple because I know I've written a lot above already. If you've even made it to this point of the blog post, congratulations!!

First things first, these are EM Cosmetics' True Glosses. Each True Gloss retails for $17 USD and during the time of my purchase I think there was a shipping promotion going on so domestic (local USA) shipping was free. In total I paid RM175 for both glosses including international shipping. 

This time round I only picked up two shades - Lotus Blossom and Moroccan Sunset. I'm typically into pinkish-coral shades which explains my choices. I haven't found the time to properly play with these yet but the other day I tried Lotus Blossom on my lips and I was /in love/ with how it looked. Be sure to stay tuned for my review okie?

P.S. I don't own many products from EM because they do not ship overseas and by purchasing via a shopping agent, it does get a little pricey after conversion so I really only shop from US brands when I'm 100% sure that I want it. In this case, I bought these about 3 weeks before my 21st birthday as a little birthday gift to myself.

Mentioned Product: EM Cosmetics True Gloss in Lotus Blossom / EM Cosmetics True Gloss in Moroccan Sunset - EM Cosmetics(via shopping agent) or local resellers.

Lastly another beauty creator's brand product is this Matcha Hemp Hydrating Cleanser, it retails for $16USD/tube and you get 120ml of product. I have acne prone skin and ever since it got worse, my mom (yes, my mom!!) recommended me to check out Liah Yoo's videos. She does many beauty related videos and often times they're pretty educational especially when it comes to acne care.

Krave Beauty is a brand Liah created known to be packed with many good ingredients. I've seen many good reviews on Krave Beauty and so I've decided to purchase this cleanser to try out. As Krave Beauty is yet another brand that only ships to USA and South Korea, I purchased mine from a Shopee store called Ippuni.

I only wanted to get this one product(at the moment) and because I don't meet the 'spend 40$ for free domestic shipping' criteria, purchasing via a shopping agent would be more expensive. So after working out the maths and reading through all the reviews on Ippuni as a merchant in general, I decided to buy from them for RM82 instead.

I have yet to try this but I will start using it soon after I finish up my current cleanser[s]. If I remember to take a 'before and after photo series' I'll write a review, otherwise I'll just let you guys know my thoughts via instagram stories. If my skin likes this cleanser, I'll probably get Krave Beauty's Kale-Lalu-YAHA as well which is a skin resurfacing exfoliator.

Mentioned Product: Krave Beauty Matcha Hemp Hydrating Cleanser - Krave Beauty(via shopping agent) or local resellers like Ippuni.

aaaaaannnnddddd thank you for reading all the way until the end! :') This is all for today's super long post. I get carried away whenever I'm writing and I know I've said this many times but I am working on writing lesser words. Anyways I just wanted to share what I bought over the recent few months and drop some hints on a few upcoming reviews hehe. For your information, every thing mentioned was purchased over the span of a few months and I generally don't spend lavishly (I mean not like I have a lot of $ to spend anyways lol) so these are purchased using hard earned money. I don't encourage excessive spending but I do think it's ok to treat yourself as long you still have savings for rainy days!!!

once again, happy halloween and thank you for reading! If anyone has any questions on the stuff I bought, just drop me a comment/message me on instagram @yumizo_ :3

See ya and I'll be going back to my assignments now.

-candy-