Beauty Shopping in Taiwan, Part 2

Another place I always visit when I go back is Watson's, a local pharmacy that stocks a variety of beauty brands. I usually go there to stock up on Japanese sunscreens. My current favorite is by Skin Aqua (not pictured above), though I have a pet peeve. Skin Aqua made at least five different types of sunscreens and put them in similar looking white bottles with similar sounding names (apparently this is common across drugstore Japanese sunscreens. Why?!). I've used the UV Moisture Gel for the last year and the only complaint I had was that it smelled a tad plasticky on application. This trip, I found out that the UV Watery Gel has the exact same texture except it has a floral scent, so it's on track to becoming my HG body sunscreen.

Hada Labo is one of my favorite Asian drugstore brands. I've used their oil cleanser, foaming cleanser (the sensitive, low pH one) and premium hyaluronic lotion. The reason they're not pictured is because they were already in my existing routine. This trip, I got a couple of sheet masks to test — I've never used their sheet masks because they were on the pricier side compared to Naruko's, but I felt it's time.

Speaking of Naruko, I am a fan of their face masks, particularly from the Raw Job's Tears line. I usually buy them in boxes of 10 since they're so cheap (like $1 per mask). Similar to My Beauty Diary masks, Naruko masks are overflowing with essence and super drippy. The Raw Job version hydrates and brightens. It's my go-to mask when I don't have particular sheet masking needs. Just slap one on!

The Naruko Face Renewal Miracle Essence is a repurchase. I don't have much experience with First Treatment Essences so TBD on whether this will be a staple moving forward, but the last time I used it I recall having particularly bright skin. The only downside is the alcohol smell is pretty strong on this one.



Lastly, I impulse purchased these From Taiwan sheet masks at the airport because they were having a ridiculous deal (something like 3 boxes for $10). I've tried one so far and it's really thin and clingy, with the tiniest mouth opening. Unlike Naruko masks, it's not dripping all over the place, but it did also dry out within 30 minutes.

These products are pretty much available everywhere in Taipei. There are Family Marts on every block that stock limited amounts of beauty products, but it's also not difficult at all to stumble upon a pharmacy that exclusively sells Taiwanese/Japanese skincare. I loved visiting Taiwan — the people are some of the nicest I've ever met, the food is delectable, the skincare bountiful. What more can you ask for?

A Fall Look with THREE and Suqqu

A brief interlude between cataloguing my shopping excesses to show you a look created with the products from Taiwan shopping part 1.



Repeat of the photo of the products for good measure:



The colors from top left to bottom right are: a shimmering pale gold, an auburn cream, a matte brown, a light barley. All of them pull warm. In the picture above, I used the palette traditionally. Started with a wash of the auburn all over the lids and the bottom lash line, then I targeted the pale gold on the inner lid and the matte brown on the outer lid. I blended them into each other using a fluffy brush. With my ring finger, I dabbed the lightest bit of the barley on the inner corners of my eye. To finish off, I tightlined my eyes using my favorite Suqqu eyeliner and applied a coat of mascara.

I placed the Suqqu blush in Usumoya higher up on my cheeks than usual (apparently the placement trick that's all the rage in Taiwan right now) and blended it to the sides. Lips are one coat of the Lyrical Lip Bloom 16 featured above. It has a smooth but not overtly silicone-y texture. Unfortunately, I realized belatedly that it catches on dry skin, so as much as I love how it looks when applied, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone with dry lips.

These colors are getting me excited for fall! Bring on the foliage!

Products used in this post:
Sulwhasoo Perfecting Cushion Intense in Medium Pink
Guerlain Multi-Perfecting Concealer in Medium Cool
THREE Dimensional Vision Eye Palette 03
THREE Mesmerizing Performance Eyeliner Pencil 10
Heroine Make Long and Curl Mascara
Suqqu Pure Color Blush 10 Usumoya
Glossier Haloscope in Quartz (you can get $10 off as a new customer with this link)
THREE Lyrical Lip Bloom 16

Beauty Shopping in Taiwan, Part 1

So... remember that large suitcase I was telling you about in my travel post. True to my prediction, exactly half of it was filled with food, and the other half filled with skincare and makeup (I only brought one packing cube worth of clothes). I was doing so well with my skincare no-buy before the trip and making headway on working through some of my stash, but traveling to Asia does crazy things to me. Now that I'm back, I'll put myself back on that no-buy so I can actually work through these goodies.

I spent two weeks in Malaysia and three days in Taiwan. If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen the barrage of food content on my stories. Most of my time in Malaysia was spent with family and friends, while most of my time in Taiwan was spent eating everything I saw and trawling through pharmacies and department stores. I was particularly ecstatic to find that my favorite Japanese brands (Suqqu, THREE and Addiction) were all available in the same department store, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Hsinyi Place A8, so that was the first place I went.



The difference between beauty shopping in Taiwan and the US is that the sales associates in Taiwan are more savvy when it comes to skincare. I went to the THREE counter with the express purpose of purchasing my HG eyeliner (thwarted because they don't sell the black one in Taiwan /anguish) but got waylaid and treated to a whole skincare and makeup routine instead. THREE's skincare philosophy centers around "naturally derived ingredients," which I take to mean lots of essential oils and plant extracts. This doesn't necessarily speak to me, because I'm a believer of clinically proven results when it comes to skincare ingredients (see: Vitamin C, niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, etc). However! I've heard great things about the cleansing oil and balancing foam and was willing to try them because my requirements for cleansers are less stringent. I also impulse purchased the balancing cream because the SA put it on me and I liked it.

The risky buy here is the balancing clear lip lotion. For context, I have terrible peeling lips that no amount of water drinking or lip balm applying has ever fixed. It has gotten to the point that I suspect it is caused by allergies, but it peels even if I have nothing on it! The lip lotion, I surmise, is like a serum for the lips. I bought it even though the ingredients don't suggest that it would... do anything, but I am desperate enough about the situation to try any new thing I can find. Right now, I'm dutifully using it morning and night. We'll see if it changes anything!

On the other hand, the lip balm has a pleasant yuzu scent and a nice melty texture. Definitely a new favorite.



I think I was just feeling particularly trigger happy that day. The model in their Autumn/Winter campaign was wearing the Dimensional Vision Eye Palette 03 and her eyes were a vision of fall. I also picked up the peach-toned lip gloss/cream she was wearing, which the brand calls Lyrical Lip Bloom 16. I AM NOT IMMUNE TO MARKETING, OKAY? Both pieces are limited edition for fall.



Suqqu went through a packaging revamp since I last saw them (admittedly, years ago) and damnnnnn are they sleek now (action video here)! I briefly regretted purchasing the THREE palette instead of going all Suqqu when realizing the disparity between their packaging, but of course it's what inside that counts... right?

Pictured here are the Retouch Pressed Powder 02 and Pure Color Blush 10 Usumoya. Both are from the permanent collection. They're both housed in the thinnest black and gold palettes and it's such a joy handling them that I'm battling waves of regret for not getting more Suqqu things to pepper into my stash.



I also got the Extra Rich Glow Cream Foundation, mostly because of Wondegondigo's recommendation. I waver back and forth whether this or the THREE Flawless Ethereal Fluid Foundation was a better choice, but I guess I'll never know. Such are the pitfalls of purchasing products with no window for testing.

I'll stop here for now. Part 2 will feature my drugstore picks!

Currently: Malaysia

I'm enjoying a blissful two weeks at home in Malaysia. Such is the perils of being an immigrant that I can only visit my favorite people for such brief spurts. I went to the US for college in 2009. As I grow older, I ache with the knowledge that my time with family is fleeting because I chose to stay.

On a brighter note, if you're interested in learning more about different types of Malaysian food, I've been posting about them on my Insta stories. The whole series is saved under the 🇲🇾Food highlight. It's surprisingly difficult to distill the essence of many Malaysian dishes into a sentence. In fact, I've never had to think about how to describe the dishes to a non-Malaysian, English-speaking audience. Thank you to those who've DMed me with questions and/or salivations. You've made creating this food series even more enjoyable.

A sample of what I've been posting on Insta

Besides eating, my time here is a flurry of decades-old friends and family. We don't do much, just bask in each other's company. I like accompanying my mom in the morning as she shops for groceries for the family (the vendors know her by sight and greets her with welcome, a scene that differs greatly from my grocery shopping experience in New York), drinking tea in companionable silence with my father, completing escape rooms with my brother and sisters. My friends are mercifully understanding of how little time I have with my family, so they would usually come to my house to hang out.

As I write, morning light is streaming through the curtains and I'm lying on my favorite sofa, listening to the hum of a household that's about to awake. I am happy, I am home.