I had such a wonderful time in New York and the beauty shopping there was phenomenal. It’s ironic that I get a lot of people telling me how lucky I am to be in Japan where a lot of the amazing Asian cosmetics come from, but after several years, the novelty has worn off and the grass is always greener on the other side. Boy, did I milk this New York trip.

What makes beauty shopping so insidious is that the items are really small (plus I had a large suitcase with me) so I didn’t feel like I bought a lot then although I squirreled away some beauty item(s) almost daily, but when I came home and took pictures, I went, “Eeks! That’s a lot more than I usually haul!”

I think since my big skincare fiasco, I started to be drawn to beauty items that have nothing to do with my skin so I totally binged on nail polish this time. I couldn’t get enough of Butter London polishes and bought five in all — Knackered, Black Knight, Lady Muck, No More Waity Katie, and Hen Party.

The ones with glitter, like Black Knight and No More Waity Katie look gorgeous but they chip quite easily and are quite hard to remove. But the smoother formulas like the rest I purchased only started chipping slightly on the third day and I only felt compelled to remove them proper by the end of the fourth day which wasn’t too bad at all. I’m also really getting into the “3-Free” (free of formaldehyde, toluene, DBP or parabens) nail polish trend and they smell much less strongly when you apply them.

I loaded up on some Essie as well — Navigate Her, Mink Muffs, Mamba, and Carry On. I also got one OPI Holland nail polish, I Don’t Give A Rotterdam!. I love all of them and although I can get OPI and Essie in Tokyo, they are really expensive and the range is not as wide as in the US.

I had to get some MAC as well. I brought along a list of things I have been lemming for ages like the Oyster Girl lipglass, a paint pot in Rubenesque (I love the formula so much I’ll be getting a couple more my next trip which is in two weeks’ time), eyshadows Soba and Naked Lunch, and I couldn’t resist the new Chen Man mineralized eyeshadow duo, Pink Union. They are all so gorgeous and I know I’m such a late-bloomer when it comes to MAC.

Much has been said about e.l.f. blushes so I had to get Blushing Rose (which Emily from Beauty Broadcast raves about). The other items I have been wanting to try are the HD Powder and Translucent Mattifying Powder so I got those and I really love the HD Powder so far.

The e.l.f. website had some crazy offer where you’ll get free shipping if you spend USD25 and above. Naturally I wanted to take up this offer so I threw in Ticked Pink blush, a few vibrant eyeshadows (colours I want to experiment with but not necessarily want to invest a whole lot of money) as well.

Benefit is a brand I have been dying to try but it’s pretty pricey at Sephora in Singapore so I thought it would be a great opportunity to get this trial kit to see if I actually like their classic products, like High Beam, Bad Gal Lash, Stay Don’t Stray. They come in travel-friendly sizes which I’ll definitely be using on my next trip.

I loaded up on some durgstore items, too, like more Revlon Lip Butters (Fig Jam and Red Velvet), Maybelline Colour Tattoo (Too Cool and Tough as Taupe – love them!) and Baby Lips (Peach Kiss and Pink Punch), a Milani blush in Luminous, and two Ecotools brushes (powder and foundation). I also got the much-lauded L’Oreal Fairest Nude lipstick (not pictured here – sorry, I forgot to include it in the picture) which is friggin’ amazing. It is so creamy and has a slight touch of pink to make this nude shade flattering, instead of dead-looking. I wonder if I should get a back-up but I know that’s not necessary because I don’t think I’ve ever really finished a lipstick. I may have thrown away lipsticks because they smelled weird but not because I finished them.

I told myself not to get perfume but I couldn’t resist Victoria’s Secret’s Sexy Little Things Noir. The packaging had me sold even before I sniffed it but thankfully the contents are indeed a spicy concoction that is truly as flirty as its name suggests. One can’t really go wrong with VS fragrances as they never stray far off the bat, if anything, a lot of their perfumes are too safe in their fruity-floral bubble.

Another classic I wanted to try is the Amazing Grace fragrance by philosophy. I actually thought I picked up the 15ml version of that, but when I got back home, I realized it said “Pure Grace” instead and it seems there are several perfumes under the Grace umbrella. It certainly smells like clean linen and there are days which I just want that — also, New York was much warmer than expected so I appreciated something light to mist myself with.

Gosh, I feel like I can exhale now. That was a long post!

Thanks for reading and do you haul a lot of beauty products on holiday more than any other thing?

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