TAOBAO Haul ♡ ft. Zeesea x The British Museum, Mille x Line Friends, Florasis Beauty, Miffy + More!

When I first started my beauty blog in 2013, I was really against buying makeup products that are made in China, I would avoid it at all costs even though majority of them are from a big, well-known, trusted European brand.

As we all know, China is well-known for their replica... I guess I was afraid of the ingredients that are used in the fakes, because it's makeup, it's skincare, it's products that you are using directly on your skin, so we always have to be very careful of what we are putting on our face.

Nowadays, there are still a lot of replica in China, but I must admit that the beauty industry in China has definitely stepped up their game! I have since discovered a lot of amazing and affordable Chinese made beauty brands while browsing TaoBao.

This is the first part of my recent TaoBao haul, I bought a bunch of new makeup and other stuff, but they are taking longer to arrive due to the recently COVID-19. I hope everyone is staying home and staying safe!

 ZEESEA X THE BRITISH MUSEUM 

 ZEESEA CUPID HIGHLIGHTER, there are two shades available and I bought shade #01 which is a soft luminous white colour. The packaging is simple, but super cute and it looks like one of those highlighters that will give you that subtle, natural glow.

 ZEESEA OIL-CONTROL MATTE FACE POWDER, this product has over 1 Million reviews and majority of the reviewer claims that it is a must-have for oily skin, it's long-wearing, it doesn't look or feel cakey on the face and it's suitable for people with sensitive skin. The powder is available in Zeesea's standard packaging and the one I have is from the Zeesea x The British Museum collaboration. 1 Million reviews is definitely a WOW from me! 

I have combo oily skin and I have tried plenty of face powders, but to this day, the only powder that I have hit pan on and continually to re-purchase is the Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Finish Powder. As we all know, Charlotte Tilbury is very expensive, this powder is USD$45 (approx NZD$77) and the Zeesea powder only was RMB￥60.77 (approx NZD15).

 FLORASIS BEAUTY 

There was a time when The Forbidden City and Chinese beauty brands collaborations was very popular and that was when I came across Florasis Beauty. Their packagings are probably the most beautiful I have seen within the Chinese beauty industry. I have seen a few bloggers talked about the eyeshadow palette I bought and overall their products seems pretty amazing, so I decided to try it myself.

Mind you, Florasis Beauty is a lot more expensive compared to other Chinese beauty brands, they are probably classed as a high-end brand within the Chinese beauty industry.

 FLORASIS BEAUTY FLORASIS PEONY EXQUISITELY CARVER FLOWER PATTERN EYESHADOW PALETTE, ohmygosh that is such a long name, haha... This palette looks absolutely beautiful inside out, the patterns carved on the eyeshadow is definitely unique, it's not something that you see everyday, although, MAC has recently released something similar for their Luna Illusions Collection.

This eyeshadow palette comes packaged in a plastic type of tin material, it has a big mirror inside and the packaging outside, on the front is very pretty, but the overall feel of the palette is quite cheap. The palette has a total of eight eyeshadows and one blush, the pigmentation is not bad, but some of the textures are quite drying and the blue shade on the far left stains the skin. The red shade in the middle can be used as an eyeshadow or a blush, it looks quite scary in the pan, but it's actually quite subtle when swatched. My favourites shades has to be the two highlights shade next to the red, they are both very smooth and pigmented.

This palette was RMB￥259 (approx NZD$62) and the duo eyeshadow brush was gifted.

 FLORASIS BEAUTY FLOWERS GALAXIE LIPSTICK, there are a total of 18 shades to choose from and four different patterns. I have the shade M122 and it is one of the most purchased color of this range.

 MILLE X LINE FRIENDS 

Mille is a beauty brand from Thailand and it seems quite popular in Asia. I only know of this brand from browsing TaoBao and their collaboration with Line Friends is totally cute!

I bought a matte liquid lipsticks and two lipsticks.

 MILLE X LINE FRIENDS ICONIC MATTER LIQUID LIP, there are six shades available from this range and I have the shade in #6 Moon. The color is pigmented, but it applies a bit streaky. It claims to be long lasting and moisturising during wear, but I haven't actually tried it yet, so I can't speak on that. The packaging is super cute, but the smell is horrible... The smell is very strong, it smells like shampoo and it lingers around for ages, I can't stand it.

 MILLE X LINE FRIENDS ICONIC LIP COLOR, there are also six shades available from this range and I have the shades #2 Cony and #6 Moon. Comparing the shades #6 Moon in the liquid lip and the lipstick, the shades aren't the same. These lipsticks are pigmented, they are creamy and glides on smoothly. Thank goodness, it doesn't have the horrible smell as the liquid lip and #6 Moon looks very dark, almost like a brown red, but when swatched, it appears more like a berry red.

 NIVEA X LINE FRIENDS 

 NIVEA X LINE FRIENDS LIP HOLDER AND BALM, I bought this for the lip holder thinking that other lip products will fit in it, but nope! Only the Nivea lip balms can fit haha and I don't even like Nivea lip balms... But, these holders are so cute and I want to collect them all!

 MIFFY 

 MIFFY CARD HOLDER, remember the Danse Lente bag I purchased awhile ago?! After testing out the bag for two weeks, I come to the conclusion that the bag is big enough to carry all the daily essentials, but it is a pain to take out items because the top of each compartments is quite narrow. So I decided to buy a card holder and this may save a lot of time fishing out things when using that bag. I love the designs on this Miffy card holder, it has 7 card slots and it's approximately 0.5cm thick.