Boots Natural Collection Ice Musk Shower Cream

Oh dear, my Boots Natural Collection Ice Musk Shower Cream seems to be finishing fast! I think it barely lasted me more than 2 weeks. =D Then again, it's only a 250ml bottle and I seem to breeze through such small quantities easily. As mentioned previously, I hardly have time for luxurious hot showers, so it's a shame I can't spend more time in the shower with this --- it's a really nice shower cream!

Whenever I go to Thailand, I will have to stock up on Boots stuff - they are really creative, nice and generally worth repurchasing for me. But why repurchase when there are soooo many other varieties to try out! I love the packaging design for this shower cream - with the hook on top, it allows gravity to really help you pull out every last bits of the shower gel (except those stuck in the hook area, lol) so that there's no wastage. By hanging it from my shower rack, it also frees up more space for the other bottles there, since the shower gel is now dangling from the bottom instead of sitting and taking up precious space. =p

The blue snowflake design on the packaging also gives a very "icy / cool" feel about it (and very Christmassy too... puts me in the mood!), but in reality there is nothing "icy" or "cooling" about this shower gel. What I like about it is the ice musk scent. It's a very heavy floral that is reminiscent of old-timey soaps like Cussons Imperial Leather, etc. I tried to Google what does "musk" smell like and I got horrible descriptions like "sweaty balls" and such. Lol! This doesn't smell anything like that!

Although I enjoy the heavy floral scent in the shower, it doesn't really linger. The creaminess of the shower cream feels moisturizing against the skin and leaves skin feeling softer after the shower is over.

All in all, a pretty good product. Will consider as a repurchase if no other variant catches my eye the next time I'm in Boots. Which will probably be a long time more coz I don't like travelling with a small one in tow. Very stressful for the mother!

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Bifesta Eye Makeup Remover

One of the first things that I used from my personalized Vanity Trove is this Bifesta eye makeup remover. A lot of beauty bloggers have commented that it is cheap (RM26.90 for a 145ml bottle) and works well - totally bang for your buck. It was practically a "must have" selection in my personalised trove! As I had mentioned earlier, my Maybelline  make-up remover was finishing and this was a timely replacement.

One drawback about the packaging is that everything seems to be written in Japanese, so other than knowing that this is for removing my eye makeup, I don't know what else to say about this product. It is a water-based make-up remover, which is unique because I find most make-up removers are oil-based.

After using it, it does do its job of removing the make-up, but I personally feel that it takes more of the solution than my Maybelline remover. It also stings more, so be careful not to get it into your eyes! Which is kinda hard since this is an eye make-up remover, wtf! Personally, the only thing this has going for it is the cost.... a huge bottle going for less than RM30 is really easy-going on the pocket!

Not a repurchase for me, but really happy that I got to try this product out thanks to Vanity Trove! :)

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My Recent Hishop Haul!

Haha, two shopping posts back-to-back. If there's any reason for my husband to NOT keep me in "confinement" in the condo anymore, this should be it. When the chores are done and the baby is asleep, there's nothing else for me to do but spend time on my laptop... streaming TV shows and SHOPPING ONLINE! Actually, I'd been planning to buy some stuff from Hishop for quite some time, just that I was further prompted to do so because :
- there was discounts for two items that I wanted to buy
- Hishop gave me some credits for old blogposts that I wrote about Jelly Pong Pong, so I might as well use the credits!
- there was a contest to win a Longchamp bag if I buy above a certain amount
- there was a free gift with purchases over RM300

If all that wasn't a sign to buy NOW, I don't know what is! :D I thought I bought a lot of stuff, was expecting a hugeeeee box to arrive. Instead, it was merely the size of a shoebox! I thought something was wrong, but fact of the matter is I bought small but costly items. :( By the way, I consider delivery quite efficient but nothing compared to Best Buy World, haha. Made my order on the 31st of October and received the goods by 6th Nov via PosLaju. Let me share with you what I snagged...

So excited to open the bright pink shoebox that arrived! But also semi-convinced that something  must be left out. -___-"

This is how everything is packaged inside! Looks like everything is there... I like how they further protect the tubs I bought by wrapping bubble wrap tightly around the containers. There's also discount vouchers for group-buy websites included in the box. Most likely not going to use them so maybe I'll post the discount codes up later.

Hishop  gives two free samples with every purchase, and based on what I see, the choices are frequently updated based on stock availability. I chose Brilliant Loveheart Lip Care System_2 Step Lip Gel Patch  and Nature & Co Pure White Lotion Light & Pure White Milky Lotion Light. Other choices include Bawang shampoo samples, Aubrey Organics conditioner and Osmium products.

Here comes the main stuff that I wanted to purchase! Egyptian Magic All Purpose Skin Cream and  ePure Membranous Jelly Masque in Jar! First heard of the Egyptian Magic skin cream from Michelle Phan, and decided to try a small tub first to see if it's any good... after all I already have a lot of other moisturisers. Just "fatt hao" want to try the in thing now, I guess. ;P As for the ePure mask, I have a funny story about it! In fact, it was recommended to me by my ex-line manager, who is a bigggg Hishop fan. In fact, he says he shops there so often that he is part of some loyalty program and always gets 30% off with each purchase. Wtf! So good?

My ex-line manager started talking about face products with me ever since I appeared in the newspaper for my beauty product obsessions. He asked me if I ever tried ePure before, and I said no. He said it was like a cult favorite, and he buys them non-stop! According to my husband (who also knows him), he used to be quite dark, but I think his skin now is pretty good! He (the ex-line manager) always says that his face is tired from too much night support, but I really can't tell (except for the eyebags). ;) He said that he buys the mask coz he's too lazy to scoop the jelly from the jar and apply on his face. However, I feel the jar is more bang for your buck, so I got it instead. If I become lazy, I might get the mask instead. =)

And finally - a joke ... though he claims to be such a fan of the site, he was surprised to hear me call it "HI shop".... he said he thought that it is called "HIS HOP" all the while! Wahahahhhahhaa.... I was like, why would they give themselves a name like "His Hop"? He said it's because he buys other men products from the site, so he thought it was a site specially for metrosexual men. "Plus, his hop sounds quite cool what. Like hip hop... his hop...." he further explained. I said that there are wayyyyyyyyy more products for women than there are for men! Anyway, I am pretty sure it's pronounced "Hi Shop" la.

To top up my purchases to RM300, I bought a lottttttt of Twistbands. I've always wanted to try them, and someone should have told me way earlier that scrunchies are out. I've got a major collection of them, and now I have to bung them all out and make way for my Twistband collection! I tried using it yesterday and I quite like it. I won't post photos as yet coz my hair is kinda short right now (super regret cutting it for confinement now), and I just use this to do a half-ponytail that is REALLY unflattering, but is what I need at the moment. When I get my long ponytail back, then I'll camwhore and review more la. Anyway, I realised that I bought some very similar colors - just that one is part of the Crown Bauble trio, and the other is the Sam trio. I think I'll give away the Sam one...

 

And finally, this is the free gift with purchase above RM300 --- a Bamboo Charcoal Slimming Body Suit. I've yet to try this on - quite mafan when I need to take off my top frequently for breastfeeding. Anyway, it is pretty useful - see whether this can help me get back my pre-pregnancy body. Even better if can get back my body circa 2009. -___-"

Well, that's all I have to share on hauls today. Fingers crossed for proper reviews and not more buy buy buy posts. :)

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My First Best Buy World Haul

I first heard of Best Buy World from fellow beauty bloggers and was really keen in checking them out. Towards the end of my pregnancy, I was so house-bound that I randomly decided to do a haul from the site even though I keep telling myself to lay off buying make-up and skincare stuff. I rarely used make-up at the end of my pregnancy coz I was working from home. Imagine piling on the stuff and just facing my laptop... alone in my room! I'm kooky, but not that nuts yet. :)

Best Buy World sells all kinds of make-up and skincare stuff from reputable high-end / luxury brands (think : Estee Lauder, Chanel, SKII) at discounted prices. They also sell deluxe / travel / sample sizes which is totally right up my alley coz I rather try out the expensive lotions and potions before springing hundreds for full size products. They even sell the bags that are gift with purchase which I also think is kinda nice. The bags are usually good quality and many a time, I'm in love with the gift with purchase but do not want to spring out another few hundred for it.

Delivery from the site is mad efficient. I placed the order at night and the delivery man came the very next morning! Crazy!!

I don’t know if you would be as excited as me to purchase from Best Buy World though… for me, I love trying new products, so I’m willing to pay like RM5 – RM10 for the sample size stuff that they sell. Some people complain that what BBW sells is actually “free gift” given by the various companies. Yeah, they are “Free gifts” IF YOU BUY LIKE THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS RINGGIT worth of their products! I rarely buy that much, so I guess it’s ok for me to pay for these sample thingies la. Without further ado, let me show you what I bought :

1. Large tote bag from Estee Lauder. EXCELLENT quality, cute and quirky. I used it immediately after getting it to cart MORE stuff to the hospital for delivery. Initially bought it just as a random bag to carry Baby B’s stuff (e.g: diapers, change of clothes, milk / water bottles, etc), but my awesome galpals bought me a bag from Mothercare that is way more suitable.
2. Pink floral pouch from Clinique – this is really random but I wanted to pack some small things + spectacles to bring to my MIL’s house for confinement, and I just realised that all my pouches are humongous. So small things like tweezer, nail clipper, etc, looks sooooo tiny and “lost” in my bigger pouches. So I bought a lippie set which came with this free pouch even though I have soooo many lipsticks. ~_~" This pouch came with the Clinique Vitamin C Lip Smoothie in Pink Me Up and Clinque High Impact Lip Colour in Rosette. The color is sooooooo nice. Three items for RM45… quite worth it mah….
3. 6 x 7ml of Estee Lauder make-up remover samples… coz I’m using Bifesta now and though so many people rave about it, I personally find it not all that great? So I thought to sample EL and see if THAT’S any better…
4. Cherry blossom shower gel from L’occitane. Kinda regret buying this because the bottle is super small – travel sized. I would rather buy a big bottle of Body Shop stuff during their sales.
5. Estee Lauder lipstick in Nectarine Shimmer… omg, such a lovely RED color…. can’t wait to try it out!
6. L’occitane lip balm because I’m attracted to anything “peachy”. Feel so conned though coz it is a super small tube and it doesn’t smell peachy at all! Angry!
7. L’occitane hand cream in cherry blossom – I think I must’ve been drunk because again I can’t fathom why I bought this? It’s a super small tube and I have hand cream up to my ears. Maybe I will give this to a friend…
8. RMK oil make-up remover…. same reason as above – wanna try more make-up removers before settling on a big bottle. 

Will probably blog about each item in detail later. At the moment, I’m really happy with the service on Best Buy World and am happy with most of my purchases. I think the only parts that I’m pissed about are the L’occitane ones, and even then it’s my own fault for getting all carried away with the packaging.

After this haul, I did buy again from BBW - bought a birthday gift from BBW as I still can't go anywhere after confinement. It's a good thing that I'm introverted and homey... I think other women would've gone stir-crazy, the way I'm under house arrest!

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Dettol : For Your Trusted Protection

At one point in time, there were 3 bottles of different Dettol shower gels in my bathroom. -__- We have one giant bottle of the green shower gel ("original"), which we generally use for "sterilising", one pink 250ml shower gel ("skincare") and one orange Dettol shower gel ("re-energize"). Why so many?! Well, my husband and I are both fans of Dettol - the shower gels are generally cheap and really make you feel squeaky clean. Ever since Dettol started introducing a wider range of variants, it became my personal goal to try out each one, hahaha.

Each variant (that I have tried so far), still has the lingering smell of the familiar original Dettol antiseptic scent, and in terms of texture of the shower gel, all 3 are creamy, but of differing colors. Original is a creamy white/yellow, Skincare is clear, but with a streak of white towards the bottom of the bottle (perhaps I should've shaken the bottle?), while Re-energize is a creamy orange. My husband bought the Original scent, but before using it finish, he cracked open my "Skincare" Dettol in my stash. The feminine pink color made me tease him for using a girl's product, but really, it's all unisex. Why can't guys be interested in "skincare"? Meanwhile, I took the Re-energize range with me when I did my confinement... I reckoned that antiseptic = good for bathing any stitches I got after giving birth.

I have to say, out of the 3 variants, I felt most disappointed with the Re-energize one. I didn't feel re-energized at all using it, and the "Fresh citrus fragrance" that Dettol touts is truly disappointing. It's like expecting freshly squeezed orange juice and being served cordial. The scent really doesn't sit right with me. However, after washing off, you do still feel that Dettol squeaky clean-ness.

The "Skincare" (pink) variant is a pleasant twist from the original, with moisturising lotion included in your shower gel for extra skin-pampering. I have to say that the antiseptic scent from the original is more muted, and your skin does feel softer than when using the original. This one is a repurchase for me, in fact this is the 2nd or 3rd time that I bought the "pink Dettol". :)

There is a total of 8 products in the Dettol shower gel range, and the other 5 are "Active" (dark blue bottle), "Herbal" (another shade of green), "Nature" (white), "Cool" (ice blue) and "Sensitive" (lavender). It's all pretty affordable, less than RM10 for a 250ml bottle. In fact, you can get a 950ml bottle for about RM15 online, so this is really worth your money. :)

Just don't get re-energize. ;)

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The Lilac Box : Cult Box #1

Got myself the Lilac Box's Cult Box #1 during my confinement... quickly logged in and made my purchase during a rare moment of quietude. Why the Lilac Box? Well, I was curious about the fact that they marketed themselves as a luxury brand beauty box, and I like the "cult labels" theme they had going. Since beauty boxes are all about discovering new brands / products, it is even more exciting if those brands are so-called "cult brands" which not everyone has heard about. I have to say, in the end I have only heard of one of the brands in the Cult Box #1 delivered!

Lilac Box costs RM49.90 per box, and is "known" for selling out very fast. They actually send out mailers to inform on the exact date and time that a box will be open for sale. Most of their boxes sell out within 24 hours, some of them within a couple of hours, actually! Delivery is pretty prompt, though I cannot really say how fast since I was at my in-laws and the box was delivered to my own home address. :) Once I finished confinement and came back, I was so hyped up to open the box! Even more hyped up than checking out my ASOS delivery - after all, I know what I ordered from ASOS, but I don't know what exactly is in my cult box!

Without further ado... the unveiling!

I have to say, I really like the packaging - an unassuming, sturdy black box with a polka-dotted white ribbon. I don't see how "lilac" this is, but since they didn't stamp the company name / brand anywhere, it is very reusable for packaging gifts for friends. :)

I like the sparkly gold and purple paper they use for packaging... looks so mystical. There is no product card, we are encouraged to go to their website to read more abou each item. Save the trees! I suppose it also helps remind us to post our Lilac Box reviews and earn points. They are also able to write more about the history of each brand, which is way more lengthy than the usual one-paragraph spiel printed on product cards in other beauty boxes.

I didn't take photos when I first opened the box, so the haphazard arrangement you see above is totally my own doing. :P Regardless, you can see that the box is filled to the brim! Now lets see what we have inside... :)

Eugene Perma Essential Nourishing/Ultra-Nourishing Hair Bath (50ml) and Nourishing/Ultra-Nourishing Mask (30ml). This brand is from France and claims their active ingredients are derived from natural plant, marine and mineral sources. The haircare experts are ranked 2nd after L'oreal, though its not mentioned who did the ranking as I have not heard about them before. Nevertheless, very interested to try this out since it's so raved about. I don't think I filled in a beauty profile on Lilac Box, so I'm really glad I got the normal shampoo samples and not the ones for colored hair. :)

Vagheggi Equilibrium Cleansing Milk (50ml), Rebalancing Face Lotion (50ml) and Oligominerals (10ml). This brand is from Italy and specialises in phytocosmetics. I'm generally not into milk cleansers, so not excited about this, though the generous sizes are ideal for me to bring around for travelling. However, I *am* excited to try out the Oligominerals, which from what I understand is something like a face serum / oil. :)

Mistral Verbena shower gel (60ml) smells really nice and refreshing! Kinda herbal in a way... this also reminds me that I haven't collected my Crabtree & Evelyn Verbena Provence gift... sigh. I won an FB contest but couldn't collect coz I was busy giving birth wtf. I hope there's no time limit in collecting the prize...

Malu Wilz eyeshadow 92 - very surprised to get make-up items as well. Heck, this box is super complete with things for hair, face, body! I guess the only thing missing would be fragrance. :) This brand has won many awards and color payoff and brilliance from the eyeshadows are raved about. The duochrome color means that the color on your lids changes depending on lighting and angles.

I'm totally into cute packaging, and the full-size (50ml)  Yes! Nurse handcream fits the bill. :) This is the only brand I've heard about, but have not tried before. Now I've got loads of handcream, not sure when I'll be able to use this. Lord knows my hands are super neglected... maybe this is a sign!

All in all, I'm super pleased with my first introduction to The Lilac Box. Would I purchase again? Maybe.... I still have a lot of samples to try out, which I'm going through really, really slowly! Once I get into the groove of reviewing again, I will probably start depending more on beauty boxes to get more ideas on things to try out and share with all of you. :)

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Beauty Mama

Hello! I haven't been updating much but with really good reason! I gave birth on the 20th of September, proceeded to do my confinement for a month at my in-laws and only came back to my own place 2 weeks ago. Things were more hectic than I expected, I have to admit I was just way too naive... a lot of things just didn't go as I planned, from my labor to my confinement... things have been hard and I just got into a working rhythm.

Pregnancy was a breeze for me, but bringing up a baby is totally a different ballgame. I barely had time to wash my face during confinement, what more to put masks, moisturisers, etc. In fact, I can even count the number of times I showered on one hand! Itwas really hard for a clean freak like me to take...

Now that I've completed the mandatory 28 days, I shower twice a day but gone are the days of long, luxurious hot showers. I think I bathe in 5 minutes flat! I don't moisturise my body or even my face -- at first its because I didn't want to confuse the baby. Now, I worry about her ingesting something coz she sucks on random spots of my arm. Once, she even sucked on my chin! Don't ask! I also don't want to rub off some cream on her delicate baby skin. Same goes for make up, I guess. Not that it matters coz I've not gone "out" for sooooo long. The pediatrician's and gynae office doesn't count.

Does this mean I'm abandoning this site? Hellz no! I love beauty products and I'm still a consumer! In fact, online shopping for beauty products is what keeps me sane and brings me some small joys when I've had a rough day with the little one. I still take photos of products I use, but it'll only be later days where I'll be reviewing more stuff. At the moment I've gone back to basics... :) Will try updating more, but bear with me coz my still-bloated face ain't ready for camwhoring....

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