to pamper / barneys love yourself beauty event

It’s well known amongst friends that I’m a bit excessive with beauty products (moreso skincare than cosmetics). I love minis and freebies. Especially high-end ones like Barneys, where it’s hard to find samples for many of these brands.

I normally wouldn’t post this because I’m a slow updater, but Barneys seems to have extended their September 5-9 semi-annual Love Yourself beauty event for a few weekends now. Spend $200 and you get a big bag of high-end cosmetics, skincare, haircare, and fragrance deluxe samples. (A few days ago their spend x and get y gift card promo ended.) Pre-order items don’t count. They have a nice curation of brands, including niche ones like True Botanicals (my favorites are out of stock), Surratt Beauty (my current eyelash curler), Hanacure (this is on deck for me), their own value beauty boxes, Peach & Lily masks (great for fillers), Shu Uemura Art of Hair, etc. They also have more mainstream brands like Tatcha, Chanel, etc. I think the Barneys gifts with purchase are nicer than Space NK.

And for those living in the NYC area, Barneys’ warehouse is in NJ; you get your order within a day or two!

The contents of the men’s and women’s bags:

(Image: Barneys)

I periodically go through my stash and either give away or sell anything I don’t use or like. This includes samples. While $200 is a high threshold, I was able to find some items that are easy to sell to meet the threshold.

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to shop / {sale alert} labor day sales

• beautytap 25% off Sulwhasoo and COSRX. Get additional 15% off with code beautytap2018 (unsure of expiration). Formerly known as w2beauty. They also have 3-5 day shipping in the US now, which is great considering these prices! Without a sale/discount code, the prices are considered on the higher end of Korean sites. (Note their search function is not very good. Better to use Google.)

Sulwhasoo: I have some Sulwhasoo products (the two overnight vitalizing and radiance energy masks and the clarifying mask) but recently got more products. I’m a big fan of the First Care Activating Serum EX in the limited edition plum blossom (review) and the Sulwhasoo Concentrated Ginseng Renewing Emulsion (light moisturizer with a ginseng hanbang smell). These two products achieve that elusive glow.

I tried samples of the Snowise serum (love but the price!), cleansing oil and cleansing foam (meh primarily due to smell and I have tons of cleansers), Bloomstay line (verdict is out, the entire line smells amazing, but the serum is too sticky, the water and cream seem ok). I love gifts with purchase and I had maximized the samples or free minis through my purchases from Korea (or got a really good price). I think samples are the best way to test before diving into a pricey purchase.

I also refer to this very comprehensive overview of the Sulwhasoo products from a Redditor and for Korea airport duty free prices as a baseline.

COSRX: A budget friendly, no frills brand. Sadly many of these products are out of stock and beautytap doesn’t filter them out. (Dermstore has 20% off all COSRX and ends up being a teensy bit more expensive, Ulta has some products. Otherwise I occasionally place a large order at SweetCorea, where the collection is complete but you will need to pay overseas shipping.) I currently don’t use any of their products every single day. I recommend the overnight masks (rice and honey) and use them in the cold winter days as a moisturizer. I also like the Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence for repairing skin or extra moisture. Their pimple stickers, A-sol, and centella cream are for pimple maintenance, which is rare but still necessary. The mister on the other hand uses the One Step Moisture Up Pad in his daily routine and it’s gotten rid of all his flaky skin.

• J.Crew 40% off almost site-wide sale. It works on beauty (which is full of cleaner beauty), unfortunately the only Megababe product left is the bust dust (their thigh rescue product is great if you avoid skirts in warmer weather!). As for the clothes, I’m waiting for their comeback. Although the sweater blazer always look tempting.

• Uniqlo sale + free shipping on all orders. The extra fine cotton A-line striped 3/4 sleeve dress is my favorite Uniqlo buy and shirtdress of late and if you’ve seen me over the course of a few days, you would’ve seen me in it. The 2018 Ines de la Fressange line is also out. I like the shirt dress and quilted coat.

• COS 30% off all dresses and knitwear. I like some of their shirt dresses.

• Nordstrom has a 40%+ off sale on Clare V, Birkenstock, J.Crew, and Madewell.

to shop / {sale alert} all the apc half moons…

The half moon is still my favorite A.P.C. bag by far!

Row 1: grey smooth $235; Carole navy blue $247 (different color, similar style); blue suede nubuck $277

Row 2: beige embossed $273; caramel brown $273; tan (sand) embossed $259 (slightly more here and here)

Row 3: military khaki python print $350; Luna black $353; yellow smooth $282

 

to shop / {deal alert} ferragamo vara pump in black leather

June 18 Update: If you recently purchased (~10 days ago) a pair of Ferragamos on sale from Bloomingdales, they have an additional 25% off sale (code SAVE25). You can ask for a price adjustment, but don’t wait too long because last time the SAVE25 lasted for one day. They have restocked the aforementioned Vara pumps numerous times even during the day as well as these neutral patent Varina flats in pink bon bon. A steal!

These classic Ferragamo black leather Vara pumps are 40% off at Bloomingdales and 35% off at Nordstrom. Currently, there are only large sizes available but if you’re looking for a pair, I would check back for popbacks. Non-patent Varas and Varinas are much harder to find. I wear the black patent ones all the time for work and have been wanting to get some in smooth leather.

Read on for my brief Ferragamo review and comments on sizing.

to pamper / sulwhasoo first care activating serum in plum blossom + 11st review

My friend recently went to Seoul. She asked if I needed anything, so I started looking into Sulwhasoo products. Even though I just came back from Asia myself. I discovered that Sulwhasoo has a limited edition First Care Activating Serum EX (FCAS) in a plum blossom scent 윤조에센스매화지향 (different than having limited edition packaging) and I was sold. However, it’s pretty hard to find, not sold at Lotte duty free, and wasn’t released in the U.S. eBay prices were totally hiked up, so off to Korean sites I went.

Sulwhasoo Research: I previously avoided the FCAS since it has a lot of alcohol, but was convinced after reading reviews online — Fifty Shades of Snail loves the FCAS and many other Sulwhasoo products, and there is this mega post from the Asianbeauty subreddit on Sulwhasoo (which I have copied into Word and notated). I don’t write off alcohol completely but leave it to those with more expertise to do the analysis.