Overseas Shopping Haul- Beauty & more!

First of all, I'm baaaaaaack! Yay! I've missed blogging quite a bit and putting together outfits, and though traveling has gotten to me quite a bit, I hope to get back on the outfit post horse very soon. Up until then I've got a lot of things to show you such as pictures from my trip (will get into where I went and what I did later), some new shoes I've bought and hopefully some clothing hauls as well. So, with further adieu, here are some of the beauty and miscellaneous items I bought whilst overseas in January. (Warning: will be a tad photo heavy)

Firstly I'll start with what I purchased that was the most recent- items from Bangkok Airport! I picked up some Soap and Glory products from Boots because I've heard quite a lot about it and was dying to try out some of their stuff. I adore the packaging and Glad Hair Day smells so delicious if not for the 100ml hand luggage restrictions I would've bought the full size and the rest of the collection at Boots.

 Pink goodness- strawberry pocky, glad hair day shampoo, scrub 'em & leave 'em body buff, sexy mother pucker in half naked.

 Ugh, this packaging is literally to die for! I love it.

I haven't tried these out yet as we came back to find we only have minimal water (!!!) but I'm super excited to test them out. I have a feeling I'll want to do scary things to my hair from the lovely smell of Glad Hair Day, I already know I've started a bit of an addiction here. I've tried on the lip gloss but I don't think I can judge if it looks well from my creepy sleep deprived face, though it's a great nude colour for me.

Now onto cosmetics. I should add a bit of a disclaimer of that I'm not trying to be a beauty blogger because I'm not really good with beauty stuff, this is just kinda of the stuff that I got and liked and it might not work out for you though. I'm sorry if the photos get a bit dodgy from here. I'm a tad bit of a perfectionist with my photographs of things but I was getting a bit frustrated and really tired.

Maybelline Fit Me in Shade 315 (Soft Honey)

This is quite the perfect fit for me right now. Before I went overseas I had the 320 shade and in about a week of being away from the sun I lost my tan and needed something new. The bottle I got comes with a pump for convenience (which my 320 doesn't have) and was half the price ($8) of the 320 bottle I purchased in December. This gives me such a natural and flawless finish and isn't heavy or cakey or anything like that, though perhaps it's because I have normal skin so it neither leaves me oily or dry.

Maybelline Volum' Express, the Colossal Cat Eyes Mascara

I'm not too fussed with mascaras because all the mascaras I've ever used always manage to make my lashes look extra big (I've always used Maybelline mascaras as a note). I quite like this brush it gets all my lashes and just amps them up to my lashes. Leanne Woodfull from Thunder & Threads also has this and I'm looking forward to hearing more thoughts about it, though from what I saw up on her Instagram, she also likes it too!

Clockwise: Catrice Sun Glow Matt Bronzing Powder for Darker Skin in 020 Deep Bronze, Rimmel London Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Pink Blossom and Transparent.

I've finally gone out and bought bronzer! For the longest time I was contemplating getting a bronzer to contour my cheeks and slim it up because my face is definitely on the potato level so I decided on this Catrice bronzer, because my sister said it would be fine and she knows tonnes more about makeup than I ever can, we were at the counter,  and I'm also impressed by their other products (more on that in a sec). I have yet to use it but I hope that it works quite well. Perhaps I'll update you all on how it goes in another post soon haha.

The Rimmel London matte powders are great as well with the pink blossom (02) combatting the sallowness in my skin and just gives me a nice and natural finish as well setting everything in place. I have yet to use the transparent powder and it's just my back up for when I finish the 02.

Catrice Gel Eyeliner in Mambo no. 2

I just love this gel eyeliner. Unfortunately for me, the store I went to didn't have a black, so I settled with this dark brown colour that has silver sparkle bits (I'm great with words aren't I?) in it. The gel eyeliner sets in an instant and then does not even budge at all! It's of super awesome quality and so inexpensive! I'm lurking around eBay to find myself the black because I love, love, love its staying power.

Catrice Ultimate Colour Lipstick in After Work Wine

More Catrice you say? Yes I'm a big fan of this brand after using their gel eyeliner and I'm also in love with dark lipsticks. I have a feeling I'm going to overuse this far too much in my A/W/ all year round palette but it's just... awesome. The colour is incredibly rich, though I can't just chuck this on with a bare face of makeup. Oh, and here's a very dodgy swatch of these because I'm totally a beauty blogger (please don't laugh I just wanted to show you how it works out against my skin tone).

I'm totally squealing to myself right now because I can't express to you how much I love it. Also to the left is the eyeliner swatch. I put the tinsiest bit on my finger and drew a line and when I was done I couldn't even smudge it was just dry without being that gross half there half not sort of thing if you know what I mean (you probably don't, I'm not the best with words). As you can see, the silver undertone comes up quite a bit under the brown, but I like the sparkliness to it because I'm not sure how flattering a matte brown would be with my eyes. 

I don't know why but suddenly I feel like I'm dragging out this post into the oblivion or something and it might be because I myself am taking a long time to write this out. I'm going to super whiz through now with the rest.

L-R: Ponds White Beauty Lightening Toner, St Ives Blemish Control Apricot Scrub, St Ives Make-up Remover & Facial Cleanser, Clean & Clear Foaming Facial Wash, Clean & Clear Moisturiser, Marhaba Rose Water Spray.

 Firstly, before you call me out on the whole lightening thing here (because some of the skin stuff I got is 'whitening'), it's probably well known to the world that throughout Asia skin lightening is kind of a thing, a thing which I hate with a passion, but I'm not here to talk about why I have a problem with 'whiteness'.

With these, I have used everything but the St Ives Make-up Remover and I've heard that it's alright but not the best, so I'm guessing it'll work more as a face wash for me. With everyday skin care I've always used Clean & Clear since I was about 11/in the beginning of high school. It's fine for my skin which doesn't really break out or get oily or really anything. I usually get the full three set but I opted for a different toner because the Ponds one smells quite nice. 

The St Ives Scrub was something I looked for like a hawk throughout the minimal shopping days and I only managed to find this one bottle at the superstore. I love St Ives' apricot scrub and it's so ridiculously overpriced here at about $10 per bottle! This is actually for acne prone skin but I was so excited to find the last bottle in the store I wasn't going to start being picky there.

Lastly, the rose water spray is something I love to have just to refresh my skin on hot days, which I thought it would be getting back, and just to kind of have around as it has a lovely rose scent (oh duh yes). It has multiple uses which I cannot be bothered listing because I'm already over ranting!

 L-R: (Hollywood Style products) Hair Repair Serum, Deep Cleansing Apricot Scrub, Whitening Mud Mask, Sun Block SPF 60.

Alright so, I made these purchases on the basis of my sister who bought skincare from this brand and I used a bit and liked it. The hair repair serum is actually something my cousin had and it instantly gave her hair moisture and shine so I went out and grabbed that. This apricot scrub here was bought because I knew my St Ives one would run out quite soon and I'm so glad it did because it has the best apricot smell, so good enough I could eat it. I also got a jumbo sized mud mask because I've used this before and it makes my skin nice and clear and bright, which is probably the only good thing about whitening stuff, and lastly, I picked up the highest SPF sunblock from this brand because I really thought it was going to be warm back in Sydney. I hope this works quite well though! Neutrogena and other less known brands also have high SPF lotions too, but this was less expensive.

Alrighty! If you're still reading this I will totally send you my love because there's just a bit more now. Onto the miscellaneous items:

 Clinique Happy- My favourite fragrance that brings a touch of spring into my day.

 Prescription contacts in clear, blue, jade, grey, green and hazel brown

 Sunsilk Soft & Smooth Shampoo and Conditioner- this has left my hair so soft and silky that even my mum now comes to borrow my shampoo + conditioner

 I love Pocky HB pencils and Chocolate Pocky

Horror movie poster mug from the cafe The Hot Spot

More Nancy Drew books because I have never grown out of my love for this series.

And this is really all I got. Another side note; this was all fairly inexpensive (well aside from the Soap & Glory stuff) and I actually got all my skin & hair stuff from one mega supermarket that is kinda like Costco but nice and clean and I don't know what Costco is like, I haven't been to it yet (yes we have one in Sydney!)

I'm thinking now I really should've broken this up. 

I hope this has been somewhat entertaining and you've liked my purchases. Also if you've gotten this far and also like Soap & Glory, what else should I look into getting?

Til next time

Ciao xo