November - December Haul 2022

It's time for the last haul of the year - I will really have to put more effort into scaling back my purchases next year - as I have backups upon backups of skin creams, serums, mascaras etc. in my stash. Anyway here comes the haul for the last two months of the year.

Serum, color makeup, testers and a makeup brush

Eyeshadow palette, hair products and eye serum

Five Caudalie testers (one missing in pic)

Milk Makeup - Pore eclipse mattifying primer (4 ml): This item came in a pack from Sephora; Sephora favorites sparkly clean set. 

Taramar - Night treatment (10 ml): We were gifted this item at work, as we met one of the Taramar representative on his way to launch the brand in Dubai!! Super cool, I have been on their email list for over a year, but still had not tried anything out yet - now I have the perfect opportunity to test this brand out and he also gave us a few other samples: Day treatment, Purifying treatment and The serum.

Biossance - Squalane + omega repair cream (15 ml): This came in the Sephora favorites set, and is perfect for work to take abroad or to put into my gym-bag :)

JVN - Complete conditioning mist (60 ml): I was super curious about this hair leave in treatment, but given my laziness to use hair products, I decided to go for the smaller size

Caudalie - Vinoperfect - radiance serum complexion correction (10 ml): this serum came with the Sephora favorites set, and is perfect for the work or gym bag! 

Saie - Mascara 101, black (5 g): Perhaps the only thing I do not need is a mascara, given the fact that I have at least 3 backups, but I think all of the un-opened ones are some version of a sample size.

Ilia beauty - Balmy gloss, only you (4.3 ml): I have been super curious about this brand, as it is apparently a clean one, and this as many products in this haul came in the Sephora favorites set. 

Rose Inc - Lip and cheek color, Heliotrope (4.5 g): This also came with the Sephora favorites set, and with the lip gloss from Ilia, were the two products I was most curious about. And after swatching the blush in store - I just had to buy this set. 

Hourglass - Vanish seamless concealer brush: A lot of my purchases these days are due to recommendations, usually someone from Youtube, this being no exception, this time it was Maree, who recommended this brush, but it was exactly what the dr. ordered as I had been having some issues blending my concealer under my eyes of late. And it works perfectly!

Jason Wu - Flora 9 - 01 Matte Agave (5.85 g): I had planned to purchase a different palette in Ulta on a black Friday offer in store, but when I swatched "Too faced Born this way the natural nudes" I found some of the shimmer colors to be too chunky for my taste, and just picked one up for my friend. So when I found myself in Ulta one hour later, feeling sad I did not fall in love with the Too faced palette, I decided to buy this on a whim and as a somewhat of a compensation for not buying the other one. It performs over average for a drugstore matt colors, and has a selection of matte colors perfect in the crease. 

Big Sexy Hair - Volumizing conditioner (1000 ml): This I picked up in Ulta during black Friday week - as it was on generous discount, and I was running out of conditioner and needed to pick one up.

Mac - Fix+ stay over alcohol free long-lasting setting spay (30 ml): I have for a long time wanted to try the MacFix+ and when I knew they had this one, an alcohol free version it sounded perfect. So I decided to buy this one in it's smaller version as well. 

Perricone MD - Essential Fx Acyl-Glutathione Eylid lift serum (15 ml): This I got tempted to buy after seeing it featured in a video from Tiffany D on Youtube. And as it came highly recommended by her, and I am starting to feel my age is catching up with my hooded eyelids I decided to grab it as it was on a 40% discount on the Perricone webpage.. but it was still expensive, even with the discount.

Eva Nyc - Mane magic 10 in 1 primer (160 ml): Yet another recommendation from Youtube, this time it was Jessica Braun, and with my hair being unusually long these days, the ends are super dry and brittle, so this is amazing to spray into my hair before I brush it through - and it does indeed prevent further hair breakage. 

Caudalie - Vinoperfect - radiance serum complexion correction (5 x 1.5 ml): I got these testers with my purchase of the sparkly clean set at Sephora - perfect for travel! 

That sums up the makeup, skincare and body care purchases for 2022. 

Birthday gifts

So this year I decided to be a little bit more timely in regards to sharing what I was gifted for my birthday (which was on the 11th of February). I will though not be showing all of my gifts, but only the beauty related ones, which were all gifted to me from a group of my girlfriends.

Bronzer, cream, brushes and a blush

Masks for hair, face and under-eyes

Nyx - California beamin' bronzer - CALIBB02 - The golden one (14 g): A gorgeous glowing bronzer with a golden hue, so the name "the golden one" is quite fitting.

Origins - Ginzing Ultra-hydrating energy-boosting cream (2 x 5 ml): Two super neat face cream testers, perfect for work.

Real techniques - Holiday 2019 - Luminous set (3 brushes + a brush bag): In this set there are three brushes; RT 307 shading brush, RT 402 setting brush and RT 221 complete coverage, as well as containing a small brush bag that these three brushes fit easily into. Love this set, already have the RT 402 in a different version, and love to get a second one, even better that it looks different, so I can use it for different products or colors than my original one.

Nyx - Sweet cheecks glow - creamy powder blush - SCCPBG12 - Day dream (5 g): A coral pink bush shade with subtle shimmer, super excited to try this one.

L'oréal Paris Elvital - Steam mask - for long damaged hair (20 ml): This will be perfect when my hair starts drying out and going on a tantrum!
Origins - Drink up intensive - overnight hydrating mask with avocado and gl. water (75 ml): A great replacement for my old Origins drink up 10 minute mask, that is a part of my beauty goals for 2020.

Garnier skinactive - moisture bomb eye tissue mask enhanced with orange juice and hyaluronic acid (6 g): This is supposed to give a skin cooling effect and visibly reduce eye bags and brighten the eye contours! Love me a good under-eye mask.

Garnier skinactive - Hyaluron shot fresh-mix tissue mask (33 g): Omg how interesting, on the packaging it actually states that this sheet mask contains the quantity of 1 bottle of serum for your skin!! That is an insane amount of serum for it to be a single use product! I might actually package this back together, put in the fridge and use again, the morning after I use it for the first time! If even all of the 33 g manage to soak into the sheet mask in the first place. 

Anything here on your wish-list?

UK + GR+ DK + FI Haul

So far this year I have been on two holidays, one to Corfu, Greece, with connecting flights in London, and then to Copenhagen and Finland. And these are the things I grabbed on those trips.

UK + GR + DK + FI haul

Finlayson Coronna cosmetics bag

On my trip to Greece, I bought two items, one in the airport at Gatwick where I grabbed a Mac paint-pot in Groundwork. This is the perfect no effort, minimal eyeshadow product for everyday. Do not regret it for one minute.

In Sephora in Corfu I bought a Sephora Lotus face mask - which claims to be moisturizing and soothing. Obviously I have not used it yet, but come winter I am sure it will come in handy.

In Copenhagen I picked up the Essence Lash princess mascara. And this type was the one that I had heard the most positive reviews about. In fact I have been trying to get my hands onto one for a couple of years, but the Essence stands where I have bumped into them abroad tend to be very picked over, and sold out. So I was pleasantly surprised they had a full stand in Føtex in Fredriksberg Center in Copenhagen.

The rest of the shopping was done in Finland, where I bought several items from Lumene, the Finnish skincare brand and shampoo and conditioner from the Swedish brand Maria Nila.

Lumene Lahde [Source] Arctic spring water enriched facial mist. I bought this with the intention to replace my Body shop vitamin E facial spray which is almost finished.

Maria Nila Luminous colour shampoo and conditioner. They are vegan and cruelty free, and do not contain sulphates and parabens. I have tried a shampoo from their volume line and so far I like it. And as per bottle is about 10 EUR cheaper in Finland compared to Iceland I decided to pick them up.

Lumene soft touch hydrating toner for dry and normal skin. I still am using the toner I bought in DK last year, but it always good to have a backup ready to go. And as things in Iceland tend to be quite expensive, it always pays off to stock up while abroad.

Lumene Lahde [Source] Pure arctic miracle 3 in 1 micellar cleansing water. This was on offer, and also bought as a back up, when I finish the micellar water I am using currently. But now days I only use micellar water to remove my eye makeup.

Lumene Invisible Illumination - Instant glow beauty serum. This is a colored serum, and I did I choose the color: universal light. And claims to subtly enhance ones complexion, so it is probably a very sheer coverage.

Then I totally fell in love with this little cosmetics bag from Finlayson Coronna, so that also fell into my shopping cart. 

DK + SE Haul

While I was on an exchange program in Copenhagen, Denmark I of course went shopping, and did some damage, both online (as I did not have to pay import tax from EU countries into Denmark, as I have to do if I order something and have it shipped to Iceland).

Also I went for a day to Malmo Sweden and bought one of the items there.

DK + SE haul

The Body shop Himalayan charcoal purifying glow mask - have used this once on my nose - did not see any miracles, but maybe they will happen if I use this once a week.

Lumene Spring water intense hydration 24h moisturizer - this is my favorite skincare brand, and it is Finnish, and is the one product I picked up in Sweden. And I was so happy to find it - as it is not sold in DK. 

La Roche-Posay toleraine ultra - a cream that is highly recommended in the POD community for perioral dermatitis, as it is a skin cream for ultra-sensetive or allergic skin. Really looking forward to try it, unfortunately it is not sold in Iceland.

Dr. Organic organic manuka honey cream - it is a little bit to rich for me, so I can just get away with it in winter. This is also recommended for POD, but for me it is not working too good. As I have some dry flakyness going on as of late.

Sephora triple action cleansing water face and eyes with calendula extract - Calendula for one is recommended for POD, so I am looking forward to try this one when I run out of the Garnier micellar water.

The body shop aloe calming toner - this one is fragrance-fee, colourant-free, perservative-free and alcohol-free. I am just loving the new look and emphasis of The body shop on cleaner products. And am on the final drops of my Lumene toner, so I it will not be long untill I can crack this open.

Gosh darling lashes extreme volume mascara - you can not live in DK without buying a danish product, right?

Too Faced soul mates blushing bronzer in Carrie & Big - was tempted to order this through Amazon to DK, as this was a limited edition and again unawailable in Iceland.

Garnier BB cream sensetive skin in light - not sure how I will get along with this as it has chemical sunscreen spf. But I just loved the Garnier miracle skin cream, and I really wanted a Garnier tinted cream back into my life.

Lily LoLo mineral foundation in barely buff - have not tested it yet, as I have too many open foundations as of late. Maybe I should have opted to put one foundation into my beauty goals for 2017?

Lily LoLo super kabuki brush - had to buy the matching brush, but if you are interested in Lily LoLo, I would deffinetly recommend to buy around Black Friday - as they had several offers going on around and on that date in 2017 from the Lily LoLo website.

Tromborg eyeshadow in fairy - just a beautiful danish brand, that is all about good ingredients, wanted to buy their mineral foundation, but it did not contain clean enough ingredients for me, so I opted to buy an eyeshadow. And what a selection they have, their eye-grease quads were just beautiful. But as they stated on that packaging it had an expiry date 3 or 6 months after opening, and  I have several cream eye-products today I opted for a powder eyeshadow. And omg it is so finely milled, it is hands down the softest eyeshadow I own. And the colour is gorgeous, either in the crease with a lighter colour on the lid, or on the lid, with a darker colour in the crease!

Empties August - December 2016

So here come the products I managed to finish up during my stay in Copenhagen, August untill December 2016

Products used up in August - December 2016

Elf mineral eyeshadow primer, very good primer, finished up, and it was a part of my beauty goals for 2016
Revlon moisture stay lip tint in sheer spice 07; was depoted into the little round jar, is completely finished up, and was a part of beauty goals 2016.
The body shop total energy exhilirating body wash; a 10 ml sample which has been in my collection for a very long time - pleasant with scrubbing particles in.
Janssen cosmetics hydrating lotion; this product was really nice, while hydrating my skin it did not irritate the perioral dermatitis. Will for sure repurchase.
Emporio Armani Diamonds body lotion; this was gifted to me for x-mas a few years back as a perfume and body lotion set - it was nice and the scent lingered on my skin for some time afterwards.
Cover Girl clump crusher mascara; a really nice mascara, would repurchase if it was sold in Iceland.
Clarins foaming body exfoliator; the scrub particles in this product are really nice, but I just hate the smell of the "standard" Clarins body products, and would thus not repurchase.
Victoria's Secret Very Sexy sheer sexy mist; I finally used this product up, which was a part of my beauty goals 2016. I used it as a body spray and as a perfume. Will not repurchase, the smell was not unpleasant, but got really tired of it.