Asia trip and Cosmetics Haul - Etude House, Tony Moly, Innisfree

Hi everyone! It's been pretty quiet here since last year... and by that I mean, a month ago when I last blogged and when it was still 2013. A very very belated Happy New Year! Has 2014 treated you well so far?

As some of you may know, I spent most of my final month of 2013 out of Australia doing some touring in China (that totally makes me sound like a cool muso or something) and sightseeing, shopping in Hong Kong. I was thinking of doing a post about my trip but I figured that there would be just too much to share in words and pictures. In dot points, I will briefly summarise my trip:

• 2 weeks spent in China, 5 days spent in Hong Kong. Left Australia on December 1
• Went with my mum, cousin, aunties and uncles (11 of us)
• In China, visited two provinces in the south - Yunnan and Hunan and 6 cities/towns in total
• Became unwell near the end of my first week in Yunnan
• Got better in the middle of the week in Hunan but still not 100%
• Rained on the first two days of being in Hong Kong. Made shopping difficult
• Visited Macau for one day

In China we went on shopping tours (not shopping malls - visited stores that specialised in selling either pearls, silver, jade, silk and more) which were extremely tiring. I can actually imagine it being very similar to musos touring countries. We had a schedule each day and we'd have morning calls (letting us know that it's time to wake up) at around 6 or 6:30 am and a set time that we had to get on the bus and leave the hotel. Plus we weren't able to go to bed that early each night as we would be out until 9 pm sometimes. Getting into this 'sleep early, wake up early' pattern was difficult for me as I'm usually a late snoozer, and it takes time for me to get used to sleeping on a different bed and in a different place. It didn't really help that we changed hotels almost everyday while visiting different cities.

I had a lot more fun in Hong Kong as I didn't get sick, we got to explore on our own and I had no schedules. I was able to rest and relax. Generally I enjoyed being there more than being in China where there was lots of air pollution and no access to my favourite social media sites.

I could go on but I reckon I'll leave it there! I have also uploaded all of my pictures on my Facebook. I've made the album public so if anyone's interested in having a look, go for it! 630 images.

I attempted to vlog during my vacation but I only managed to do a proper speaking one on my final night in Hong Kong. Yet I still wouldn't call it 'proper' as it was so impromptu lol. I've made a playlist for the vlogs/videos which you can check out below:

While I was in China and Hong Kong, I was most keen on finding Asian cosmetics to purchase as they tend to be cheaper than online or instore over here. And who isn't drawn to the cute/pretty packaging that these cosmetics have?! While being overseas, all of the cosmetics that I bought were from Hong Kong, mostly in Mong Kok. As I was on a shopping tour in China, there really wasn't any time to do our own shopping in any shopping malls/districts.

Being in Hong Kong for just 5 days wasn't enough and I wish we could have stayed longer! I wasn't happy with how little my haul was so I made up for it by... shopping online after coming back! I had left over HKD which I exchanged, banked and used to spend online haha.

Items from Sasa and Etude House. Not a lot as you can see!

Most of the items above were gifts for friends so technically my haul was only this big:

Yes I know right, disappointing! And one of these 'items' is just a membership card (yay)

The SHINee packet of tissues... just a freebie lol

A beauty blogger like myself to come back from Asia with only that many Asian cosmetics... wowee. Definitely the smallest Asian cosmetics haul from Asia that I've ever seen online. This was one trip to Etude House and I was hoping to make a couple more trips but due to time constraints it wasn't possible. Also, going with a large group was hard and we'd have different interests of where to shop and what to do. Because of my situation, I am just glad that I was able to do a bit of shopping in a shop that I had wanted to visit in so long.

The Etude House shop in Mong Kok didn't seem very updated as it didn't have any of the new ranges and still had older limited edition ranges to sell and clear out. But of course this must be because Etude House is Korean and it probably takes longer for stores outside of Korea to get their hands on the new limited edition items.

Being the cheap, bargain-hunting Asian that I am, I purchased items from the 40% off sale as there really wasn't anything that I really wanted to buy. I think I already have enough cosmetics!

These were so cute (this is probably going to be the reason/description I'll be giving to every single product) and I fail at nail art designs so I thought, why not have some pre-made designs to simple stick-on. Also I could tell that these nail sizes would fit my petite nails really well!

This limited edition Shini Star lip balm endorsed by boy group SHINee is no where to be found online and there weren't many left in one of the Mong Kok Etude stores. Limited edition and limited stock indeed! This is Taemin's choice of fruit flavour (guava) and it smells so delicious! There's a flavour/colour for each SHINee member and I regret not grabbing more/all of these. It's very glossy and leaves a subtle tint of colour.

Etoinette Crystal Shine Lips #PKK003 is this gorgeous rose pink colour which is suitable for daily wear. I'm in love with the design - it surely makes me feel like a princess. The colour is more on the sheer side with some shimmer. The scent is pleasant and this lipstick is definitely one of my favourite lipsticks right now.

An egg-shaped lip balm! I have this slight obsession with lip balms these days, I have plenty of them yet I still keep buying more! To me it's an absolute necessity and I hate having dry, cracked lips.

Doesn't it remind you of another lip balm, one that is more well-known? Yep, it's just like the EOS lip balm which I haven't used before but when I saw this in the store I was thinking, "cool, it must be very similar!"

It is similar!

I can't do a comparison of which is better however I can say that this lip balm goes on smoothly and smells delightful - a light peach scent.

Now I'm going to share my cosmetics haul which I purchased online when I got back. A Korean cosmetics haul:

This was my first time ordering from them and I was really happy with neatly they packaged everything into the box. The little note was cute too

Must give a shout-out to Jen from NYNB who tweeted about her order from Beauty Net Korea, which I hadn't heard about until she mentioned it! I checked out their site and it sells products from pretty much every Korean beauty brand that exists - a huge range, limited edition items spotted and free shipping! Also, I must say that the prices are really decent. I will definitely consider purchasing from here again :)

And all orders get free samples. I love samples!

Skincare samples by Etude House

Tony Moly Cat Chu Wink Tony Tint sample - good for a red lippie!

L-O-V-E these lashes, they look and feel very natural. The XOXO Minnie x Etude range is too adorable! I recently wore these to an event and the way they flick outwards on the ends is quite pretty. I'll share a pic here:

A better alternative to mascara I reckon!

Another cute pink lippie from Etude! Dear My Blooming Lips-talk in PK013 - a colour I'd wear for special occasions.

I've always wanted to get one of these highlighters. How shiny is the box and packaging of this Tony Moly Crystal Light Gold Beam, oh my goodness it's stunningly blinding! It reminds me of the popular Benefit High Beam however this is much more affordable. It leaves a subtle finish which is perfect for me because I'm still new to highlighting and contouring and I don't want to end up looking too sparkly/shiny!

What did I say before about being a lip balm freak :P Here I go again with purchasing yet another, but it's not as though I regret it or anything - this is the Innisfree 98% Natural Tint Balm and it's prettiest stick lip balm I've owned and it smells like candy *_* I tend to be more of a fan of tinted lip balms than regular lip balms because sometimes I want both moisture and colour and regular lip balms and lipsticks can't do both for me. It's like a 2-in-1!

I've never used any of these eyeshadow/shimmer sticks before so I thought I'd try them out. Also, I noticed that they're used by Korean singers and actresses and their eye makeup always looks gorgeous. I'm happy to have purchased these because they glide on really smoothly, making it incredibly easy to apply!

Just like an ice cream, ey? Adorable design for a nail polish and this red orange/grapefruit colour is amazing! One coat and I was able to achieve streak-free opaque nails. I was impressed with the consistency of the formula :)

Finally I've gotten to the end of my haul - another lengthy post from me! However this technically isn't all to my Asian cosmetics haul because I'm still waiting on my Sasa order (I know what you're thinking...why did I order online when I could've just BOUGHT them from the PHYSICAL Sasa stores in Hong Kong!!) and I kind of splurged again on Korean cosmetics...

I'm happy to share what's in the bag but not in this post as I've already shared plenty! If you'd like me to write another haul post (items in that bag and Sasa order once it arrives), please let me know :D

Disclaimer: All products were purchased with my own money. This is not a sponsored post nor am I affiliated with any of the companies mentioned. All opinions are 100% honest.

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