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31 October, 2014

Hawaii Beauty Buys: The Drugstore Edit


All of my Australian readers will know that drugstore shopping is disproportionately expensive down here (which was one of the reasons I was on a drugstore ban during my beauty diet, knowing that I would be going to the US this year). Okay...so fast forward to Hawaii, USA where everything suddenly becomes so much more affordable! My Hawaii trip wasn't quite the laidback beach bum experience I was expecting - it was more of a whirlwind trying to squeeze in all the sightseeing as my husband shared some memories of his past trips - so all of my drugstore beauty shopping was crammed into a single trip to Walgreens and a couple of visits to the corner ABC store.  Now, the corner ABC store is a literal concept as ABC stores seem to be on every corner, sometimes even on opposite corners in Waikiki but I digress.  I'm here to talk about the makeup!

Onto the Walgreens expedition first - I filled my basket with items from Wet n Wild, L'Oreal, Covergirl and NYX, plus some Halloween candies for a grand total of 55 USD!  Aussie girls will know that's a pretty good deal...
 
 
Wet n Wild

  • Wet n Wild Color Icon Eye Shadow Trio (Silent Treatment) - I have a much loved little collection of these trios and I've long been after Silent Treatment.  Wonderful Larie shipped one out to me last year but the taupe eyelid shade sadly crumbled during the long trip from Seattle so I grabbed another as soon as I saw it! You can the see the super soft taupe has started to crumble again so I will have to baby this little palette. 
  • Wet n Wild Color Icon Eye Shadow Palette (Floral Values) - I seen mixed reviews on these newish quint palettes but at $3.99 (a quint for $3.99?!) I was prepared to take the risk because I love the spring appropriate shades.

L'Oreal
 
  • L'Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow (Eternal Sunshine) - These babies sell at around $19.95 each in Australia so at 8.49 USD this was a bargain.  I could have chosen more than the golden Eternal Sunshine but had a feeling of déjà vu about some of the shades - the names were different but they looked like what I have at home so I resisted.
  • L'Oreal Voluminous Miss Manga Waterproof Mascara (Black) - I bought this because waterproof mascara I'd packed had dried out during the trip.  I love the soft, flexy brush but the mascara formula hasn't completely wowed me.  It's a reliable waterproof formula but I'm not getting those feathery doll-like lashes I thought I would!
 
Covergirl

I spotted some interesting nail polish shades in the Covergirl display that I haven't seen in Australia so I chose from left to right:  Salt Water Taffy, Seared Bronze, and Inferno. 
 

NYX
 
  • NYX Mosaic Powder Blush (Rosey) - I love my Plummy Mosaic Powder Blush a lot so I decided on warm pink toned Rosey for a spring/summer version.
  • NYX Matte Lipstick (Shocking Pink) - It's so hard to choose lipstick when there aren't any testers so I chose just one of these lipsticks to try because I've heard great things about them.  At 5.99USD compared to 12.99AUD I sort of wish I'd bought more shades.  Since researching the shades and swatches on Pinterest I wish I'd added Indie Flick (orange-red) to my basket too.

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Onto the ABC store...
 
As I said ABC stores are everywhere - and they sell pretty much everything too from food and drinks, clothes, souvenirs and of course cosmetics including the local nail polish brand Island Girl.


Island Girl

  • Island Girl Nail Color - I was so disciplined around nail polish this trip!  I kept my selections down to just two shades:  Island Paradise (mid tone neon purple) and Mahalo Color (neon pink).   
  • Island Girl Scented Cuticle Oil Mini Pack - The teeny bottles filled with natural dried flowers were too cute to pass up!
 
I have one last instalment to go and then I'm done.  Be warned I did get a little carried away in Sephora...
 
 


17 comments:

  1. Honestly, I think all this has been very restrained so far.

    I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE SEPHORA POST. :DDD

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    1. After all those months of restraint I must be out of practice! LOL

      Sephora almost sent my head spinning with all of those choices too ;-)

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  2. Nice drugstore haul! But I can hardly wait to see your Sephora haul too!

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    1. I've been falling behind with my posting schedule - "AGAIN!" she cried - but I'll get October's empties out of the way then it's going up!

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  3. I love reading about the deliberation that went into each purchase. Isn't the Island Girl logo adorable? I'd have picked up the set of minis too.


    Um. I learned something about how I deliberate over purchases. It's juvenile and superficial. Wanna know what it is? I buy things according to three criteria: adorable packaging + mini size + overall cuteness. Oh my gosh. Err.. that would explain the set of four Essie Wedding 2014 Minis I got even though I don't much like pastels and have yet to find a translucent or pink polish that suits me. Geee. I hope this ridiculous thought process is solely for nail polish.
    This has little to do with your haul, but I recommend keeping empty mini nail polish bottles. I decant polish from nearly-finished regular-sized bottles into minis so the polish doesn't get goopy. I wish I had one on hand myself right now, as my nail strengthener is getting goopy as heck.

    I hope my ramble makes sense.

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    1. Oooh. some of my comment was deleted. I didn't know things written between "<" and ">" characters are interpreted as operations.
      The deleted lines following the 1st paragraph are:
      ** pause **
      ** blather **
      ** light bulb turning on **
      ** blather deleted **

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    2. Hehe! I love that you went back over the comment to put in the extra bits! I'm all about the cuteness too as a BIG factor although I always consider will I actually WEAR it too! I had the UD Vice 3 palette shoved under my nose but I realised pretty quickly that I wasn't going to wear half the rainbow shades in there so... no Vice 3 for me! LOL

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  4. The Island Girl nail polish looks so cute!

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    1. They had such a massive selection of summery polishes! I struggled to keep it down to two :)

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  5. nice loot, I can't wait to grab those cuticle oil minis for myself! Sephora haul mention has me holding my breath...

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    1. The cuticle oils smell so nice - you'll love them! I've finally taken the pics from my Sephora haul so it's on the way!

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  6. It must be fun to travel to other countries and fulfill some much-needed space in your international beauty cabinet! If I ever get to Australia, I will raid the Shanghai Suzy lipsticks, LOL! Glad you got to pick up some goodies on the cheap! Cannot believe how high the drugstore markup is in AUS!

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    1. The markups are crazy down here - there really isn't the justification for it either which makes it all the more frustrating too. It's going to be interesting when Sephora open the doors on their first Australian store next month because the word going around is they are going to keep the prices as per US prices so fingers crossed for a more fair price on cosmetics!

      Shanghai Suzy are on my hit list too - haven't bought any of those yet so I'd better hurry up - for research of course! LOL

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  7. I went crazy shopping when I went to Hawaii too! I'd love to go there again!

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    1. It's hard not to go crazy when the prices are so low! I want the cosmetics and the beach again please! ;-)

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  8. Ahhh, I'm still sorry about that palette crumbling! Should have crammed in more bubble wrap or something. :(

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    1. Don't be sorry - Blame the handling Larie! I watched a video news report not that long ago showing the delivery guys THROWING parcels into the truck! Don't you worry at all xoxo.

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