HUGE Skincare and Makeup Haul

I haven’t done a haul post since my Summer beauty haul all those months ago! This is a collection of various beauty and skincare products I’ve bought since August, from Sephora USA and Portugal, as well various shops in the UK! I have built up quite a collection, and I’m so excited to share this with you because these products are the first products from Sephora I’ve ever used!

Some of them have been used, some even empty, but many are still in their packaging and I’m yet to get round to trying them out! If I’ve used them, this will also come with a little review. Otherwise I just want to share some of the new things I’ve bought, and I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’ve tried them out!

Please comment down below or on twitter/instagram, I’d love to know your thoughts 😀

Skincare

I’ll start off with skincare as I think this is the biggest category! I got so excited in Sephora, and felt like I just needed everything. I’d heard so much hype about Tatcha, so I beelined straight to their section when I was in New York. I got the water cream and the deep cleanse, which I have since finished! I’ve talked about it in my September favourites because I’d already fallen in love with it by then. Both products were amazing, and I would recommend it to anyone who has combination skin, especially if your skin can get more irritated whilst travelling. The water cream isn’t greasy at all, and glides on almost like a gel. It left my skin feeling so smooth, and I’m so sad its all finished. I have already ordered my next batch, and I can’t wait for it to get here.

I bought a lot more Sephora own brand items in Portugal, and the product I’ve been completely loving is the Green Clay Mask, which I talked about in my October Favourites. It says 4 uses on it, but I’ve been using it only on problem areas such as the nose and around it, as well as on my chin and forehead, and it’s lasted me a good few uses already and I’m only about halfway through! I love using this after I’ve wiped my face with the charcoal exfoliating wipes, also from Sephora. These wipes are a bit on the rougher side, but are double sided with one side to cleanse and the other to exfoliate. I’ve been using them after particularly long day or tired couple of days such as after travelling, when I feel my skin is a lot more clogged up and troublesome. I also got a charcoal and pineapple nose strip, which I’m yet to try but super excited as my partner loves them! The lip balm from Sephora was also good although unfortunately I misplaced it after only a couple of days 😦

My favourite purchase from this trip has got to be the Panda Eye Serum Stick by the K-beauty brand Tony Moly. This super adorable eye serum is easy to carry around, and although in a solid stick form rather than cream, glides on so smoothly without tugging at the skin. I love using this in the morning and evening and the cool touch of it is always so soothing. Also a bonus if you want to take it as a carry-on as it won’t count as liquids!

After watching Jenn Im’s wedding video where she talked about both her and Ben using the Rose floral toner from fresh before their big day, I wanted to try it out and see for myself as I was looking for a new toner. I went to John Lewis and got the travel size version and got the soy face cleanser as well. The toner was amazing, and I used it either with a cotton pad or just spritzed it straight on my face and let it sink it. For hot, dry days the spritzing is definitely better, and it was perfect for my trip to Portugal. I also talked about this in my September favourites.

The soy cleanser was also good, although it doesn’t smell particularly nice, unlike the toner. Although it smells weird/bad, it felt gently on my skin and didn’t leave it feeling tight or dry which is a must for any cleanser. I used it as part of my two step cleansing process (second step) and it worked well for me during my holiday in the Lisbon and Porto heat.

I also bought the Liz Earle Tonic Spritzer which I talked about in my July Favourites because I’ve loved it for so long. I thought this would be my summer toner, but as the days have gotten shorter and colder, I’m still loving and using this toner almost every day. It provides the perfect level of hydration pre-moisturiser and also doesn’t make my skin feel tight or tingly at all.

For the wedding I attended, I also wanted to wear some false lashes and picked the Eylure Volume Lashes No. 100 and Eylure Lengthening Lashes No. 116 as well as some Ardell Duo lash glue from Boots, although you can get them cheaper on amazon! I used the lengthening lash for the actual wedding and ended using the Eylure glue that came with. The lashes did start to get irritating towards the end of the wedding, but it held up well considering it was a long, long, long day and half of it was at the beach (it was a wedding on the decks on the beach!!). I definitely have become a fan of the Eylure lashes, as previously I had only bought lashes from Japan. My mother-in-law also borrowed the same pair for a ball she attended, and she loved them and said she didn’t have any issues with them all night.

Another brand I hadn’t used before was Kiehl’s (I know right?!) but this changed last month when I got the Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cleanser and the Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream, which I’ve talked about previously in my October Favourites. To be completely honest, I was disappointed in the packaging for the facial cleanser, because it for damaged for some reason and the product just leaked out and it was a massive waste. The actual liquid cleanser was great, especially for oilier days, and was genuinely a super gentle but effective cleanser. But I can’t look past the fact that the tube the product comes in is part of the price and should be up to a good standard! Having said that, I did love the formula so I would get it again and hope that this packaging fail was just a one off.

Another brand I tried for the first time is eos, and I got the Visibly smooth lip balm and SPF lip balm. Although I haven’t tried the SPF version yet as I’m using the Vaseline SPF15 lip balm (amazing for when your lips are really dry btw!) The eos lip balms are definitely super cute and stand up well on their own, and its great to carry it around during the day too. I don’t find it particularly moisturising compared to the vaseline one, but keeps my lips protected during the day if they are already doing pretty well. I think I like it because it isn’t greasy, and anything which feels that way is just a massive no-no for me! I picked all of these at feel unique, but again, you can get them for less on amazon!

Makeup

I had been SO excited to get the new BeautyBlender Bounce Foundation and the Fenty Beauty Foundation, and they looked so beautiful on display at Sephora! I unfortunately haven’t had time to try these out yet, but once I do I will post a review of them. Another brand I was excited to try out was Tarte, and I got their creaseless concealer, but again, because of how much I’ve been loving the YSL Touche Éclat (Summer beauty haul), I haven’t managed to test it out yet 😦

Question for you: I was thinking of maybe doing a foundations and concealers review in the future, from drugstore to high-end brands? Let me know what you think!

Another one for the wedding, I bought Sephora liquid lip which is the first time I have bought or tried a liquid lip! It definitely got some getting use to, and the colour pay off was a little too strong for me. However it lasted all night and I didn’t have to reapply once, which I feel like I definitely would have had to for a normal lipstick. I might try a different colour next time as the pink was a little too bold and strong for me.

Accessories and Tools

I was looking for a new brush and sponge cleanser to take on holiday but needed a non liquid one as I was only taking hand luggage, so I picked up the BeautyBlender Cleanser to try it out. Verdict: I love it! For some reason I was sceptical about this, and wasn’t sure how well a solid cleanser would work on my beauty blender and brushes, but its actually so much easier and cleans by sponges so much better! I’ve replaced it as my normal brush and sponge cleanser at home, and it has been lasting me a long time.

Another travel item I wanted was a retractable fluffy brush with a lid, and I got one from Sephora. I bought it as a travel and carry around brush but have ended up using it every day as a brush for my setting powder! It is SO soft, and the application is so even and light, it doesn’t feel heavy or cake-y at all. Because it is infused with charcoal, it is also antibacterial making it perfect for carrying around.

I’d heard of the silicone sponge trend for a while now, and the Sephora version was less than £10 so I decided to give it a try. I’ve only used it a handful of times, and definitely find the beauty blender a lot easier to use so other than testing it out, I haven’t been much of a fan of this. I was really hoping it would be amazing as it is so easy to clean and anti-bacterial so would be such a great everyday sponge, but unless theres another brand which somehow makes the application different, I don’t think I’ll be using this for every day use.

My sister-in-law recently gave me the Unicorn Cosmetics brush kit, and as these are still super new to me, I haven’t had the chance to use them but they are SO pretty and SUPER soft! I’m so excited to start using it, Its a set of 10 brushes, and I’m most excited for the fan brush as I’ve been looking for one for the longest time!

Hair

Another item from my Sephora haul in Portugal is the Tangle Teezer which I talked about in my September favourites. It has become my everyday hair brush and I take it with me almost everywhere! I got the rose gold one which is definitely one of my favourite colours.

I felt that I should also be taking better care of my hair, as I usually don’t do anything to it, so I picked up the Garnier Hair Balm with my Feel Unique order, and again I’ve already talked about this product in my October favourites. My partner also got one, and its been doing wonders to our hair! I use it instead of conditioner, and although it says to use twice a week, I started off using it pretty much every day because my hair was so dry. It softened the look of my hair almost immediately, and reduced the number of flyaway hair I had in just one use. Hair balms usually don’t appeal to me because I don’t want to either sleep with it on or walk around with wet hair, but this one is a conditioner replacement, and you apply it to your hair after you shampoo, and only have to leave it in for a few minutes, which means that you can just get everything done in the shower!

Thank you so much for reading, and please share any products you’ve been loving or trying out recently! I’d love to connect with you on Twitter/Instagram too 🙂 Leave me any comments or suggestions!

See you in the next one,

Rina

 

***** Disclaimer: Some of these links are affiliate links, which means that I can get a small contribution from amazon if you buy through these links, at no extra cost to you. This post is NOT sponsored, and I have bought all these products myself without any influence. All photos are my own.*****

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