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!