A beauty haul from Hong Kong

I have been away on vacation and spent a week in Hong Kong. It was a nice break from the snow and cold here in Sweden. Instead I had warm days with temperatures between 22 to 28 degrees Celsius and some sun. It is amazing how your energy levels rise as soon as you get some sun in your eyes and on your skin. During my trip I did a lot of sightseeing and I became very fond of Hong Kong and can definitely recommend this as a vacation destination. There is so much to experience and see and it will keep you very busy.

I did some shopping in Hong Kong and here is my beauty haul:


The first place I went to was a MAC store in Queensway Plaza. I actually just stumbled on it as I was going to a place called Hong Kong Park.
I bought three empty eyeshadow palettes here since I cannot buy them where I live. The nearest MAC to me is a counter and they do not carry empty palettes.
I also picked up two of the Blush Ombres from Spring Colour Forecast, Ripe Peach and Azalea Blossom.


I also went to a Kiehl's store located at Times Square in Hong Kong. I picked up a Yerba Maté Tea Cleanser and an Ultra Facial Moisturizer. They were really nice and gave me two samples to try, the Acai Damage Repairing Serum and the Cucumber Herbal Alcohol Free Toner.


I couldn't go to Asia without buying some Asian makeup so I went to a SASA store in Times Square and picked up some things.
I managed to buy three mascaras:
Super Dolly Powerful Curling Mascara, a mascara with a comb from SASA's own brand.
FairyDrops Mascara and Heroine Make Mascara, two mascaras from Japan.

Two palettes from KATE a japanese brand that belongs to Kanebo:
Reflect Mirror Eyes in GY-1 (the palette on the left in the picture).
Diamond Cut Eyes in PU-1 (the palette on the right side in the picture).

Two lip products:
A lip gloss from a unknown brand and is simply called Long Lip Gloss. This was very cheap, only 15 HKD, which is approximately 14 SEK. I have tried this one and I really like it and it lasts a very long time on the lips without feeling too sticky.
B&C Apple Lip Cream, an apple shaped lip balm that contains apple extract. I have to admit that I bought this one because it was so cute.


The last beauty shopping I did was at the airport and I picked up three things from Shu Uemura.
A light peach Glow On blush called P Peach 42 and two eyeshadows, ME Green 550, a green eyeshadow with gold in it and ME Brown 850, which isn't a true brown color but more a purple taupy kind of color.

This was all the beauty shopping that I did and while I am writing this I have to admit that I bought quite a lot. So now I have put myself on a beauty shopping ban for an undetermined amount of time. Well I will probably cheat and buy something from the Liberty of London collection from MAC that is released in april. But with that beautiful packaging it doesn't count, right?

Maybelline Pulse Perfection Vibration Mascara.

First of all I have to admit that I bought this mascara because of the vibrating wand. If it didn't have this function I wouldn't have looked at it twice. It isn't a mascara with flashy packaging but just a black tube with gold text on it so it is easy to pass by and not notice. There is a button on the wand part that you press down and the wand starts to vibrate. You have to keep it pressed down because as soon as you let go the vibration stops.

I have been wearing this mascara for some time now and it has been featured in a few of my EOTDs. I do have some issues with this mascara. The first thing is the vibrating wand. I can't speak for other vibrating mascaras since this is the only one that I have tried, but in this case the vibrating wand is rather useless. It tickles but that is about everything that it does. I can't see any difference between applying the mascara with vibration and the normal way.

The Pulse Perfection Vibration Mascara does lengthen the lashes and gives them a intense black color. But there is something in the way that it applies that bothers me. It is hard to specify but I think it is the way it sort of glues the lashes together, almost like a "spider leg effect" but not quite that bad. It doesn't look natural and I have to comb through the lashes to get a natural looking result.

The staying power is good but not excellent. After a long day of work you can see some fall out. It doesn't smudge but there are some black "grains" gathering under the eye.
I have take a picture after about 12 hours wear and a long work day to demonstrate the staying power and the fallout.


Do I recommend this mascara? If you are curious and want to try a vibrating mascara, the answer is yes. But this is an average mascara at its best so if you are looking for a new mascara that will give you long and natural looking lashes and with excellent staying power, the answer is simply no.

Will I buy this again? No I won't because there are far better mascaras out there and the vibrating wand isn't enough for me to like this mascara. It is a fun product and it tickles but that is all there is.


I bought this product with my own money and it is my own opinion.

A small LUSH haul

A while ago I decided to use up my LUSH stash before I could buy some new stuff. Well I haven't used up my stash but I have bought some new things so that didn't go so well.

I have an excuse though, I went to LUSH for a specific reason and that was the Fair Trade Foot Lotion. I had a sample of this and when I tried it I fell in love and I needed a new foot lotion for my dry winter feet, so I decided to go to LUSH and buy this one.
Of course buying only one thing was out of the question and I picked up some other things as well.

From left to right: Space Girl bath bomb, Ring Of Roses Buttercream, AvoBath Bath Bomb, Fair Trade Foot Lotion and Amandopondo Bubble Bar.

I picked up two bath bombs Space Girl and AvoBath. Space Girl is a new bath bomb that is shaped like Saturn. It is purple and has glitter on it and the scent is described as a blackcurrant sweeties on the LUSH UK site.

The other bath bomb that I picked up was AvoBath. This one contains avocado and olive oil and it has a rather strong citrus scent. It is very strong almost to the point that my nose hurts.

The haul could have ended there but the SA saw that I had picked up the Amandopondo Bubble Bar and showed me the Ring Of Roses Buttercream and told me that it shares the same scent as Amandopondo. Buttercreams are a combination of moisturizer and soap and the SA told me that this is mild enough to use as a facial cleanser. I am not going to try that but instead use it in the shower.


I did get a free item in the form of Love Soap. This is a heart shaped soap that belonged to the Valentine collection. I think it shares the same scent as the Sex Bomb Bath Bomb. So I guess it is scented with Jasmine and Ylan Ylang. I haven't tried the bath bomb so I am not 100 % sure that it smells the same.

Now I will continue to use up my stash but let me tell you I don't think I can stay away from the Easter products. They look really nice.....