Dubai Haul || Sephora, Duty Free, New Yorker & More!

As those of you who follow us on SNS already know, this Christmas holiday we went to Dubai with our family on a short but fun packed family holiday. Of course when travelling, shopping is always on the to do list and our mum was kind enough to give us some spending money which Hanzel kindly gave to me since he isn't very big on shopping <3 

I'm already planning a couple of haul videos revolving around my Otome clothes haul and the Colour Pop haul video that I promised you guys coming in the new year, and I didn't want to bombard you with another haul video, so instead I'm writing this post. I bought quite a bit so I tried not to go into too much detail but still give you a brief idea into why I bought them~

:: Duty Free ::

One thing I learned when I went to Korea is that the best thing about travelling is the duty free at the airport! Last year I bought a camera lens and almost even a new laptop, so this time I had my intentions set on a few specifics. 

Benefit || They're Real! Mascara #Beyond Blue

I've always been a big fan of Benefit's They're Real series, and you guys know I love my They're Real! Push-Up Liner so it was only a matter of time before I added their mascara to my collection~ I got blue mainly because of a picture I saw on tumblr - unfortunately I couldn't find the picture to show you - but I've wanted to recreate that look since I first saw it, so this is my first step towards doing that.

Rimmel London || Eyebrow Pencil #004 Black Brown

(Hanzel) Harmony has been trying a number of new brow products since she really wants to change things up and she actually ended buying this pencil but finding it too dark when she tried it on again later, so she casually passed it to me as a 'Christmas present'... thanks sis >_> 

:: Sephora ::

I don't know if our US fans know this but we don't have Sephora in the UK OTL... In fact, brands like Urban Decay, Too Face and NARS have only just become available to us in the last year or so and we still don't have brands like Black Opal, Make Up For Ever and even LA Girl.

When I found out there were multiple Sephora in Dubai I spent a good day on the Sephora website picking out products I wanted to buy, I was absolutely going to make the most of this opportunity! 

Anastasia Beverly Hills || Tinted Brow Gel #Espresso (100DHS = £18.40)

I don't usually buy high end makeup (in fact I avoid it for you guys~) but I've really wanted to do something about my brows and anyone who knows anything about brows, knows that Anastasia is where it's at. I wasn't really interested in their pomade since it doesn't give the kind of natural brow finish I like, but I did notice this browscara when brow-sing their stand! I bought a browscara back when we were in Korea from Etude House and I loved it but it's too light for my current hair colour, so I thought why not get anything?

Kat Von D || Monarch Eye Shadow Palette (220DHS = £40.50)

Ever since buying my Morphe 35W palette, I've been really interested in palettes since I didn't realise how diverse and useful they are; so why I don't like spending more than £20 on one piece of makeup, I'm willing to spend a little more on a palette (cause really they're like multiple single eye shadows and it works out cheaper anyway!)

At first I antagonized over whether to get some Kat Von D lip products or an eye shadow palette, and even after deciding on a palette: which one? But I eventually settled on this Monarch palette because I thought it was the most diverse for my particular style; the first 4 colours being perfect for Summer & Autumn, the next 4 colours for Winter & Spring, and the last 4 colours for all year round smokey looks, not to mention you can always mix things up too!

Too Faced || Natural Eyes Neutral Eye Shadow Collection (185DHS = £35) 

Now this was another one I antagonized over; Too Faced have 3 palettes with very similar colours, two actually being exactly the same but one is matte and one is shimmery. I had walked in with the intention to get this specific one, but then the clerk told me she thought another suited me better and that the matte version of the one I wanted to buy was actually the most popular one... However, I stuck to my gut because I knew the exact reason I wanted this specific palette (and soon you'll find out too!) Expect to see a lot of this palette very soon~ 

Urban Decay || Ultimate Ozone Multipurpose Primer Pencil (100DHS = £18.40) 

Yes, so I went to Urban Decay and I didn't buy a Naked palette but that's mainly because I couldn't afford it (and I can buy them in the UK anyway!) Instead I got this primer pencil I'd been eyeing for quite a while now; I wanted this because I have a LOT of fine lines and wrinkles on my face - especially under my eyes and my laugh lines - and this product is supposed to fill those up. Also recently I've been really into lip makeup and this is supposed to be a great primer for the lips so I'm looking forward to putting it to the test. 

Make Up For Ever || Mist & Fix (125DHS = £23) 

Now this? This is probably the product I wanted the most out of everything I got. Winter decided not to come this year in the UK which means my skin is still a greasy mess OTL and to make matters worse, my skin has randomly started acting up since about September and has yet to clear up.. (my guess is hormones.) Anyhow, all that means that my makeup doesn't last as long as starts to look uneven really quick and its driving me crazy, which is where this setting spray comes in. I've heard nothing but good things about this spray and when I tried it on my hand it seemed to do the job perfectly; I've yet to try it on my face but you'll be sure to hear my opinion when I do! 

Benefit || Girl Meets Pearl (150DHS = £27.60) 

This was the one thing I didn't really intend to buy; lately I've been looking for a liquid highlighter to use on top of my liquid foundation/BB cream because the powder ones make them matte when I want a dewy finish, but I couldn't really find anything I liked back home. While I was walking around Sephora I thought I'd try Benefit's High Beam which I had been wondering about and found that I actually quite liked it! ...except it was sold out OTL However the clerk did recommend this to me instead, the finish & colour are practically the same but this one is a lot more glittery so I didn't hesitate to buy it. I really love the over-highlighted/'strobing' look but I do think I'll still go back for High Beam for those simpler days~ 

:: New Yorker ::

I'm not sure how many of you would have heard about New Yorker, even though its a very popular German brand, I'd have never heard of it if it wasn't for my friend in the Netherlands since we don't have it here in the UK. My friend always sends me pictures of nice things they think I'd like so I had to go in there the moment I found out The Dubai Mall had one. (Not to mention they were having a huge sale so everything was dirt cheap!)

Blue & Grey Flower Print Pullover (55DHS = £10)

The only thing I bought was this flower print pullover. It came in pink and blue and they were both beautiful but I decided to go for blue since it matched my wardrobe better and I also thought I could share it with Hanzel. Up until a few years ago I used to really hate all flower prints but now there's one or two I really like so I'm happy I finally got to add the first flower print piece to my wardrobe, just in time for Spring too! 

Another thing I wanted to buy from New Yorker was their underwear, I don't really have any nice bras or knickers and the ones I do have are well in need of being thrown out. I'm not particularly fussy about underwear but everything in New Yorker was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo pretty T__T I'm going to ask my friend in The Neverlands to send me stuff OTL 

:: Daiso ::

You should have seen my face when I saw the Daiso in The Dubai Mall, this was one of my favourite shops back in Korea because you could find all sorts of odd things for super cheaper. I didn't have anything specific in mind but I ended up buying a neck pillow, socks that would be perfect for Otome-kei and Hanzel got an alice-band. 

Besides a couple of postcards and souvenirs, that pretty much concludes everything we bought during our 5-days in Dubai. I'm really excited to start putting a lot of these products to use and I'm sure you'll be the first to hear what I think about them when I do! We didn't really get much for Christmas so I supposed these are our Christmas presents to ourselves, but what did you guys get for Christmas? We'd love to know~!