Buying More Skin Care Online In 2016

Finally, I registered for Gemfive, The Body Shop and Hermo as well at the end of 2015. Many websites were having year end sales then. My little brother's birthday was around the corner and I planned to buy him a pair of New Balance from Gemfive, however, when I was going through the final process to pay for it, something went wrong, and when I return to the same item few minutes later, it was sold out. Ouch! So I abandoned the plan to buy the shoes. At the end, I gave my brother the money and asked him to buy himself! 

Then, my NRK Rosehip Perfecting Elixir finished in December 2015. I planned to buy a replacement bottle. However, it was sold out. So I looked for other rosehip oil instead. Well, for me, I was willing to try any face oil. There are many types of face oils listed in Gemfive. However, I was choosing base on discount instead of what I really wanted. So, at the end, I bought the Real Nature Rose Essence by Nature Republic instead. It's so bad, not the product, but my greed. Hermo was having a buy 3 free 1 promotion where the cheapest among 4 items was free. So, instead of the original two items that I intended to buy, I ended up with four items.

Well, Since I bought the items during the huge promotion period. I received the items after one week plus. Luckily, it was not something I needed urgently. It came with a huge corrugated box, a bit overkill, I think. Anyway, it's better than a trending on Twitter where a guy in Japan got his one and only persimmon in a huge box from Amazon. 

The items from Hermo came with a very big corrugated box

All the items were individually wrapped in bubble wrap.

wrapped in bubble wrap

after unwrapped the bubble wrap

From this first purchase from Hermo, I got a small box of facial cotton pads, a NRK Moisturising Mask and Revlon emery board. Well, I have no use of the nail file, so I gave it to a friend.

Free gift from the purchase

For one of the items, the Naruko Apple Seed & Tranexamic Acid Black Spots and Lines Defying Night Gelly, it's very light when I hold it. I was using the Rose & Botanic HA Aqua Cubic Night Gelly EX  that I bought from Taiwan earlier. The bottle for the Rose & Botanic is very solid and heavy, whereas this Apple Seed version was shorter and it's just a normal plastic bottle. I am not sure whether the packaging for the one sold in Taiwan and Malaysia has any differences or the packaging for different series are different. Anyway, I can judge whether it's a genuine product after I start to use it.

the differences in size and packaging for the Naruko night gelly

After the year end shopping, I ran out out of body lotion. Well, I got my year end bonus and decided to splurge a little on body lotion. My usual staple was the Nivea or Johnson & Johnson, the one that we could find in any pharmacies or supermarkets and at the lower price range than said, The Body Shop. So, I actually put items amounting to more than RM100 into the cart (to be eligible for the free shipping), but when I was waiting for the TAC from the bank, it didn't come fast enough (my area phone line reception was poor sometimes), and the transaction became time out and I canceled the purchase. Well, I took it as a sign and decided not to buy from The Body Shop. I continued to scroll around the webstores to look for body lotion. Finally, I settled for Avalon Organics from Natta Cosme. Again, to qualify for fee shipping. I bought two bottles. Mmmmm.

2 Avalon Organics from Natta Cosme

For this purchase, it came with air bag filler to fill the void and as a cushion to protect the bottles. I think it's much more environmentally than the shredded paper or Styrofoam. It's also lighter.

it came with air bag packaging

Avalon Organics Olive & Grape Seed Hand & Body Lotion and Grapefruit & Geranium Hand & Body Lotion  

This Avalon Organics Body Lotion is packaged in a recyclable bottle. However, I think after I finished it. The bottle will just going into the dust bin and then buried somewhere in the landfill. Only paper and newspapers, and maybe aluminium tins are easy to recycle in Malaysia.

recyclable material

Anyway, I started to use the Avalon Organics Grapefruit & Geranium Hand & Body Lotion first. Well, I am very clumsy and accidentally caused the lotion to overflow on the opening area. Well, it's a OK lotion so far, but I need to make a mental note not to buy Geranium scented skin care next time. I don't like the smell.

clumsy

Not long after that, my cleanser in the bathroom was almost empty. Time to buy a replacement. I was using the Exuviance Purifying Cleansing gel and it's not cheap considering it's something that I would wash off. So, I planned to buy a cleanser that's around RM30. So, I went to Hermo and sort the cleanser by price. Then, I put many cleansers into the wishlist. After that, I googled about the products. Finally, I chose a cleanser that have four reviews and the manufacturer's claim that it "cleanses impurities while moisturizing and nourishing". I am looking for all things that are moisturising at this stage of my life. Hahaha!

both items were wrapped together

To qualify for free shipping, I added another item which was the Laneige Water Bank Eye Gel.

my two items to qualify for the free shipping

free gift

Well, for the Laneige Water Bank Eye Gel 3ml, it was actually bigger than I thought. It doesn't look way too small if compared to the Exuviance Hydrating Eye Complex which is 15g. Interesting! I wondered how long it will take for me to use up a 3ml eye gel.

Laneige Water Bank Eye Gel 3ml and Exuviance Hydrating Eye Complex 15g 

If I bought something that I knew it would be used immediately, I won't feel guilty. But if the items are sitting there inside a drawer for a long period of time, I will feel guilty even though it's not something expensive.  I read a blog with a title "How to Beauty Haul responsibly", I agree with her, but it's so difficult to control the impulse buying. Another study shows that in US, 46% of the Millennials purchase beauty products every week, and 94% buy cosmetic, hair care and skin care monthly. Wow, need to control and set up a budget, don't want to become part of the statistic!