I have done a few mini-hauls so far this year but I've be busy with other things and haven't had a chance to post about any of them. With the exception of the Avecko haul I posted last weekend , my orders have small, filled with necessities, or otherwise not deserving of their own post.





Still, this haul was quite the surprise when I opened it, for less-than-pleasant reasons.





In this post:

What I purchased, and why

What it cost me, and how long it took

What exploded en route

Physical sunscreens from my magical Sunscreen Fairy Godmother





What I purchased, and why

What it cost me, and how long it took

What exploded en route

craft herpes

Physical sunscreens from my magical Sunscreen Fairy Godmother

You can't go out like that, you need some PA+++, my dear!

image source

:3

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Disclaimer: All products reviewed/mentioned in my blog, are 100% purchased with my own money, with a single exception of a press sample I tested & reviewed in 2015 which swore me off of them forever. This blog contains both affiliate and non-affiliate links, and clicking the former before you shop means that this blog may receive a small commission to assist in this blog supporting itself. Please see my Contact Info & Disclaimer policy for more information.

If you are squinting at that picture and wondering "is that a" you would be correct.Physical sunscreen. As I've mentioned before, I am allergic/react badly to chemical sunscreens, so I can only use physical-only sunscreens. I'm still searching for my HG phys only sunscreen, so I like to grab samples when I can find them.Likewise, this is also a phys-only sunscreen.I like lip tints and this was very cheap during the sale, plus the only tint I have at the moment is the Tonymoly Catchu Wink ( reviewed here ) and it's a few years old.I purchased #5 last year and it was much too dark; I finally got around to picking up the lighter shade. This is a contour powder.Repurchase! I bought this hoping it was a rich burgundy-purple like the promotional shots, but in reality it's a very subtle MLBB and has a strange consistency between a tint and a lipstick. I wish Etude House made this in full sizes, but it seems that it's only made in this mini size. :(I was super disappointed to discover that the Tatcha Polished Rice Enzyme Powders had a whopping pH of 9 after they kindly contacted their lab in Japan to ask what the pH was. Here's hoping Su:m37, of pH 5.5 Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick fame, has formulated their powder wash at a reasonable pH.Reviewed! You can read it here . I quite like it!Unlike the Ginger Sugar Overnight Lip Mask, this tinted lip balm is ... just a tinted lip balm. Nothing exciting, not a strong colour payoff, not a remarkable lip balm. Good to drop into the cavernous abyss of your purse in the event you want a serviceable lip balm with a hint of colour.Apparently these smell like, 'nuff said.I actually have a tiny tube of the Skin79 Green but I'm suspicious that it breaks me out, but I'm out of it and need to test further before I review/confirm it.I have issues with hyperpigmentation and sun damage. Whitening products are my friend. Remember, whitening does not mean bleaching!I ended up giving away most of my stash of these samples for Christmas, so I needed to restock. You can read my review here ; buying samples and decanting is cheaper than buying full size.Um. I think 'Blossom garden' is pretty much all you need to know here. I've emptied 2 of this brand's Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick cleansers, have one more left, and purchased one for my mother. Su:m37 knows its way around fermented flower pretty things.Repurchase! I quite like Innisfree's It's Real masks, and I find the Rice mask nicely nourishing and a little more rich than you average sheet mask for days my skin feels exceptionally dry.Er. It's Hanbang-esque deluxe sample kit that includes a hydrogel mask. I may have been lured in by the packaging. Don't judge me.Seriously. This was part of TK's giant New Year's sale, so things were already at a 30% discount, and I had some "My Money" credit from a cash back new customer offer + refund from a leaked bottle of OST Vitamin C serum. It completely covered my entire order including the shipping.I placed my order on 12/30/2014, it shipped on 1/13/2014, and I received it on 1/29/2015.Testerkorea has really been struggling to ship out their products quickly; I am not sure if they're running into supply issues or what the cause is, but it seems like since November of last year, orders have regularly been on standby up to 3 weeks or more for some people.TK has provided me some excellent customer service (more on that below) so I will continue to purchase from them, but I would caution anyone who is looking to make an order that there may be a delayed turn around time.So what's up that ziploc bag?When I first opened my TK box, I spotted what looked like a hot pink makeup bag, and I wondered if it was some sort of free gift, or a fancy package, so I dug it out to take a closer look.It immediately spewed bright pink all over my hand like liquidglitter, and I realized with horror that one of my products had leaked in transit and coated the inside of the plastic bag (and the contents of that bag) which someone in TK had the foresight to place it in. Considering the alternative was to roam free in the box, coating anything and everything (like my fancy deluxe sample Hanyul kit's white paper package) in its path, the casualties were pretty limited.TK requested I send them a picture of the label + the tintpocalypse-in-a-bag. I sent them this photo (uncropped to show the label of course) and they immediately responded with a very generous offer to either resend a replacement of each of the 3 red lip products I had bought, or refund each of said lip products.I thought this was pretty remarkable considering that only one of them had exploded (at this point, we didn't know which one)As it turned out- once I had armed myself with nitrile gloves and a giant metal mixing bowl, gingerly placed the bag into the bowl, and marched into the bathroom to attempt to defuse this pigment powder keg (without coating myself, the sink of our rental, or anything in proximity with a violently pink stain)- the culprit was The Saem Saemmul Real Tint : this tint has impressive colour payoff and great staining power, as the persistent pink stain on my hand was going to prove over the next 24 hours.Too bad about the packaging; it looks like the packaging does not tighten all the way closed so I would not recommend purchasing this online as it seems to be a design defect instead of just bad luck.I actually store this product upright, in a ziploc bag, because it gets everywhere the second you disturb it. Like glitter. You've been warned.I know a girl who knows her way around sunscreens. Note: unlike this picture, my sunscreen benefactor is young, hot, and really knowledgeable about sunscreens. Like,knowledgeable about them- it's slightly terrifying how into sunscreens she is, but she looks a good 10 years younger than her age so clearly it's working! Her sunscreen-fu is intense.She apparently felt badly that my search for a physical-only sunscreen that was gentle enough for daily use was going so poorly; I have discovered many phys-only sunscreens are also designed to control oil, which is very drying to the skin. Either that, or I'd order samples that would sell out before shipment and I'd get refunded. So, she decided an intervention was needed and sent me a care package.The package came with European chocolates, and ultra gentle physical-only sunscreens. Score! Did I mention European chocolate? Because there totally was some- just none of it survived to picture taking time.She received a care package in return, filled with goodies to keep her winter-abused hands and feet (and face) happy; I'm still very touched that she thought of me and my plight and cherry picked these for me.I am currently using the one on the left, but you can find them on, linked here from left to right:If you'd like a full review of the one I am currently using, let me know. Once I am done the bottle I have, I plan to test out some of the samples I received from TK before I work my way through the full size bottles. Both are discontinued so it's better that I have an alternative lined up in case I fall in love with either of them.And that's it for this week's Weekday Randomness!-Cat