to shop / halogen x atlantic-pacific

Blair Eadie of Atlantic Pacific is one of my favorite style bloggers – yes, she actually still blogs in addition to Instagram. I visit her actual blog, which is not that common versus reading it in Feedly, because her Notepad and Edit & Etc pages aren’t captured in my RSS feed. I love her style. It reminds me of a time when J.Crew rocked and when I dressed less basic. I also like how she keeps her social channels professional.

Blair just launched her collection with Nordstrom’s Halogen house label on Monday. My favorites are the jackets and blazers. There aren’t too many pieces and surprisingly, she didn’t shoot each piece styled. Many pieces have sold out.

Bow Detail Tweed Jacket – although I don’t love this bow, the rest of it is a solid tweed, slightly cropped jacket without any metallic embellishment.

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 / that nordstrom anniversary sale, part 2

What I bought in the second round. The anniversary sale ends on Sunday.

(1) Fresh Eye Cream. I recently read that wrinkles take 6 years to surface. Maybe I should be more diligent with using eye cream (I have not been)… As I mentioned last time, the Nordstrom anniversary sale has a ton of beauty deals and gifts with purchase (gwp), which in my opinion is the best time to buy beauty products in lieu of a site-wide 20-25% off. I get really excited when you can stack gwps for a brand like Fresh since they normally are not that generous with deluxe samples. I got the Fresh Creme Ancienne eye cream, and with it came 7 minis (along with 5 beauty samples from Nordstrom).

• The 5 minis on the left are auto-added with any $125+ Fresh purchase ($83 value).
• The 2 minis on the right above the eye cream are through code DMFRESH (exp unknown) for a $50+ Fresh purchase ($60 value). If you don’t care for these minis, you can get an 17 piece sampler with code DEALMOON (exp unknown) with any beauty/fragrance purchase over $125. You can see its details once you add the code at checkout.

(2) Cubic zirconia stud earrings. I want a pair of diamond studs, but I’m not sure how much I want them. So, these are a low stress experiment to avoid a financial regret! They also come in other sizes.

(3) Gehwol foot cream. I love everything from this German brand.

to shop / zella leggings and that nordstrom anniversary sale

I looked at the Nordstrom anniversary sale a few days too late and know I already missed out on stuff I don’t really need. What’s nice about the anniversary sale is that they mark down Fall merchandise or what normally does not get marked down. The sale is open to cardholders through Thursday, July 20.

These days, I don’t workout often but I do love wearing Zella leggings on occasion, especially when flying. Zella is a Nordstrom house brand that I would buy at full price in black as it frequently sells out. I prefer high waisted over regular, black over blue, and midi over full length. The Keep it Cool leggings really do keep you cool — I could wear them in balmy Taipei weather. Also, if you need hemming, you get a $100 alterations allowance with the basic, fee-free Nordstrom card. I have yet to try it since I’m not super close to a Nordstrom.

‘Live In’ Midi Leggings (not on sale) | Live In High Waist Leggings | ‘Keep it Cool’ Crop Leggings

I also ordered some other stuff — the search function doesn’t work for showing anniversary items, you have to navigate through the anniversary sale menu. I did some restocking. If you’re a fan of J.Crew or Madewell, they are included in the sale. There are a ton of beauty deals (including lots of gadgets). I prefer to buy electronics through Nordstrom, so I highly recommend checking out the sale if you’re looking for e.g. a new Clarisonic.

to pamper / burberry festive box back in stock

Update: Back in stock at Sephora.com.

Originally Published on November 6, 2016

Another beauty deal — this Burberry Festive Box was launched for the holidays. Burberry packaging is gorgeous. It has one full-sized neutral eyeshadow in Pale Barley along with three minis. The eyeshadow alone runs $29 and this box is $35. The set launched on Sephora and soldout after restocking. Now, it’s back in stock at Nordstrom, but I’m sure it won’t be for long!

Images: Nordstrom