Beauty Asia 2014 Haul: Hakuhodo Brush and Nail Polish!

Beauty Asia 2014 was held for 3 days in February last week, and I am excited to say, since it was in a central area, I managed to head down during my lunch break to take a look! And of course, I couldn't resist hauling! This time, unfortunately, unlike last year, I missed the guided tour meant for press and media, so I guess I'll just focus on the hauls that I had this year!

One of the highlights of Beauty Asia 2014: Hakuhodo brushes!

One of the highlights this year was the Hakuhodo brushes (photo above). Like last year, they had also come to Singapore, but this time round, their brushes were on sale! There was a long, long queue (you'd think the high prices would deter buyers, but apparently not). Hakuhodo brushes are like the Lamborghinis of makeup brushes - super expensive, but the quality is awesome (although given the prices I'm sure some of it is savvy marketing, too). Due to the prices, I hemmed and hawed for a long time, but after much deliberation, I bought just one (I was keen on getting more but truth be told, my wallet would have died on the spot). The one I got was the Hakuhodo Kokutan Blush Brush S, model number H2282.

Hauled: the Hakuhodo Kokutan Blush Brush S

Hakuhodo has several blush brushes, made out of various hair types (goat, synthetic, blue squirrel), and different handles. I was first drawn to the Kokutan range because of the luxe-looking wood handles, but the Blush Brush S caught my eye because of its softness. It's made from a mix of blue squirrel hair and synthetic fibres, so it's extremely soft. In my opinion, when I was feeling the various brushes, it seemed to me that the squirrel hair in general was softer and less dense than goat. So goat hair would be better for packing on more colour, while squirrel hair would be better for a wash of colour. I have dense blush brushes already, so I decided I wanted something softer and sparser - and so I wound up with the Blush Brush S. I actually bought the last piece, so yay!

The other thing that was a major draw for consumers like me are the nail polishes. There are a few different distributors (UGateway is one of the major ones I recall) selling various brands. In addition to the brands that make an appearance every year, such as OPI, China Glaze, Orly, and Lippmann, this year also saw Misa and Color Club.

Another major highlight: nail polishes!

This time, I just stuck to a few Misas in interesting colours. I'm a big fan of duochrome nail polishes, and I noticed a few Misas that had lovely duochromes in the bottle that I hadn't yet gotten, so I took the opportunity to rectify that straight away! At $4.50 per bottle it was a reasonable price, too, I felt.


Haul: Misa Phazers on Stunning, Shields Up, Live Without Knowing
The colours I got were (L-R): Phazers On Stunning, Shields Up, and Live Without Knowing. I don't know why the colours of the nail polishes aren't showing up in this photo, but these are gorgeous in person. Phazers On Stunning is a green-brown duochrome with flecks of tiny silver glitter, Shields Up is similar to OPI's Not Like The Movies from the Katy Perry collection way back in 2010, in that it is a purple-green duochrome with tiny silver glitter. I've always been eyeing Not Like The Movies (don't ask me why, although I already have Zoya Ki and GOSH Purple Heart), but I never got around to buying it, so I was glad to get something similar. Lastly, Live Without Knowing is a gorgeous taupey-brown mushroom-y colour with tiny gold glitter. I have tons of these mushroom shades, but the gold glitter just stood out to me. (Again, don't ask me why I bought this, because I already have Butter London's Posh Bird. Old habits die hard, I suppose.)

So that's it - that's my haul for Beauty Asia 2014! I do apologize for not bringing you more highlights, but I promise I'll try to do better next year! If you went to Beauty Asia 2014 and bought anything, let me know what you bought!