Monthly haul time! January’s haul is a bit of a mix of things – some items I received for Christmas from family members (but didn’t get a chance to photograph until January), as well as some birthday items (January baby here!). Enjoy!
I know little to nothing about this brand Chemins de Provence aside from the fact that my brother picked it up for me in France. These are bath salts and the scent is in Almond. I’ve used them once so far and loved the scent, although I definitely did not smell almonds. I’ve previously finished up lavender scented bath salts by the same brand, which you can see in my most recent Empties video.
Another present from my brother, and presumably from France as well since I’m totally unfamiliar with the brand. Fraise l’exquise de Energie Fruit is a shower gel that I’ve added to my collection but haven’t had the opportunity to use yet because I’m totally overwhelmed with all the shower gel I currently have in my linen closet, so this has essentially moved to the back of the lineup!
L’Occitane‘s Pamplemousse Rhubarbe (Grapefruit and Rhubarb) is a limited edition scent that my mom picked up for me in a shower gel (yep, into the closet it goes!) for Christmas. She knows I love anything grapefruit scented, and the rhubarb is a great addition to the scent!
Annnnd since she knows I love grapefruit so much, she also picked up a pack of Neutrogena grapefruit wipes for me. Made me laugh when I opened the package!
My mother in law gifted me this Jergens Wet Skin Moisturizer. I had heard about in-shower moisturizers (like the one by Nivea), but I had never tried them out. This one is slightly different in the sense that you apply it just after you’ve gotten out of the shower, but before you towel off. While it feels like a normal moisturizer, what’s cool to me is that unlike a normal moisturizer, this works with the moisture on your skin in order to hydrate your limbs. Usually if I apply a typical moisturizer to wet skin it slides right off – this one doesn’t! So after I’ve applied to my wet skin, I towel/pat myself try and I’m good to go. Really, really handy for quick moisturizing without having to worry about it needing to sink in for a lengthy period of time!
One of the cute things my mother in law put in my stocking (hi Ruth!) are these Burt’s Bees items; a lip balm and a cuticle cream. She had read in my stocking stuffer guide (prior to Christmas) that my grandmother would typically put a Burt’s Bees lipbalm in my stocking, so she decided to keep the tradition going since we were in Wisconsin this year and not in Ottawa! Very sweet touch. 🙂
Sooo here in Canada, I’ve never seen Chap Stick in these cool scents. I’d seen plenty of American bloggers and YouTubers mention them, but they never seemed to be available in Canada. I need lip balm like I need more shower gel (which is to say not at all!), but I wanted these because I just can’t find them here! The Pumpkin Pie one is incredible (so, so nice to wear that one) and the Candy Cane one is as to be expected – very candy cane-like. Currently wishing I’d also picked up the Cake Batter one as well, but I think it would’ve been a little too sweet for my tastes.
Alright, here’s a biggie! My mother in law gave me some cash for my birthday and encouraged me to hit up Ulta while we were visiting. I needed no convincing and I knew exactly what I was going to pick up – the Lorac Mega Pro 2.
I had died a small death by not getting the original Mega Pro (RIP) and have been wanting to try Lorac eyeshadows out since then. What better way to do that than with an ENORMOUS palette? (I’m seriously dreading Swatch Sunday for this sucker… that’s a LOT of photos to edit.) I’m so happy to have this palette in my collection now. 🙂
Another thing I picked up from Ulta is the Tree Hut Shea Sugar Scrub in the Brazilian Nut scent. I’ve actually already finished one of these before and I knew I wanted more of them. Out of all of their scrubs, this is definitely my favourite scent.
While we now have NYX stores in Toronto, I hadn’t been able to get out there yet, so I picked up the very last NYX Micro-Brow in Taupe at Ulta while I was there. Love, love, love this brow pencil – it’s so much easier to use when I’m in a rush than say a pomade or the like. (I still love those too, they’re just not a product I want to dip into when I need to do my makeup quickly.)
This was such an impulse purchase and I’m still a little dazed and confused by it. I was inside a Sephora at JC Penney (holy smokes they have a lot more amazing sets there!) and noticed they still had a few shades left from the US-exclusive Frozen Berries collection by Bite Beauty. I picked up the shade Juniper because it’s a stunning shade… but on further reflection I already have this shade in a few other lipsticks! It’s not dissimilar to Kir Royale (also by Bite) and Too Faced Melted Berry. Did I need another lipstick in the exact same shade? NO! But now I own it and I feel kind of silly about it.
A few products from a generous friend here. She was at the MAC Warehouse sale a few months back (I think) and picked up this Full Fuchsia pan blush for me because it was super bright and she figured I’d like it. And I do! Soo pretty!
A new Maybelline quad in Luminous Lilacs. This looks like new packaging for the quads (to me anyway, I’m not overly familiar with their eyeshadows except for the ones that used to come in a chevron pattern) and I have yet to bust open this one!
Next up is a trio of The Body Shop body butters in their tiny size. She gifted me this because it has a tiny Satsuma one in there (and she knew my husband wasn’t a fan – haha!). There’s also a Strawberry and Mango one in there as well.
The next two items are freaking AWESOME! She also gifted me The Body Shop‘s Frosted Cranberry Shimmer Lotion! I had a small bottle of it last year but had used the whole thing up. This stuff is MAGIC. I love the scent, and it actually deposits very fine silver shimmer onto your skin. It’s not for everyone, but I love glitter all day, every day, so this is so, so nice to wear because it makes my skin gleam.
In addition to the shimmer lotion, she also handed me the shimmer mist (also in Frosted Cranberry). This is more of a bodyspray with fine shimmer in it, but I find the shimmer particles are not as strong as the shimmer lotion. Love the packaging too – it’s like a snowglobe!
The next two items are from my lovely friend Kat (well… her real name is Sara, but I call her Kat). We do a gift exchange at Christmas and she freaking spoiled me this year! She knew I had been lusting over the Laura Geller baked sorbet blush in Guava (Laura Geller is impossible to find in Canada), and not only did she find it, but she also managed to score it in an amazing set that came with a face primer, lip gloss and mascara. Unfortunately, the sparkly clutch it came in started shedding glitter particles everywhere so it’s not especially usable. The blush though… incredible. I’m so, so in love with it.
The other thing she spoiled me on is the Lorac Unzipped Gold palette. Kat had asked me what brands we didn’t have access to in Canada and Lorac was my first response since I didn’t have any of their palettes at the time she asked (of course then I went and bought the Mega Pro 2 above when I was in Wisconsin…).
The shades in this palette speak to me and I’ve heard Samantha Jane going on about it a lot so I knew it had to be mine!
Phew! That’s it for January! I’m sticking to a very minimal buying pattern for the next few months since I’m saving up for IMATS New York (Sugarpill EVERYTHING) in April. Luckily, I’ve also received a few Sephora gift cards so if I feel the need to splurge, I’ve got those in my back pocket! 😉
