Hi all!
Here are some products I bought in Nov & Dec. Instead of reviewing every single item separately, I felt I should just put them all in one post as a collective haul. Some of them deserve detailed reviews which I will do later. For others, I will do a short review within this post. Hopefully, such hauls will help you discover new products and give you more insight. I have divided this haul into 5 sections as follows:
Skincare
1) Shea Beautifying Oil from The Body Shop – I love Shea Butter. Its hydrating and nourishing to the skin. So when I saw a dry oil with Shea as its main ingredient, I thought I will try it out. It cost AED 65 for 100 ml. I bought it from The Body Shop, Abu Dhabi Mall, Abu Dhabi. Detailed review later on.
2) In Shower Body Lotion from Nivea – This product immediately grabbed my attention because of it’s uniqueness. Have you ever heard of a skin conditioner that you can use while you are in the shower?. I am sure you haven’t. Now here it is!. They have released two different types now. One is for Dry skin (with Almond oil) and the other for Normal (with Sea Minerals). There is none for Oily skin. However, oily skin needs conditioning too. So probably, they will release one later on :).
As my skin type is normal but leaning towards dry (particularly during winter), I decided to buy both and try it out. As as introductory offer, it’s price has been slashed by 20%. Each one of this 400 ml bottle costs AED12.50, at the moment. I bought it from Carrefour, Marina Mall, Abu Dhabi. I would highly suggest you buy this ASAP :). I will be including a sample of this product (for Dry Skin) in my New year giveaway prize pack. Detailed review later on. Update (on 22nd Mar 2013) : Click here for detailed review of this product.
3) Vitamin C Skin Boost from The Body Shop : Vitamin C is known to brighten the skin. That’s what attracted me to buy this product. It instantly smoothens the skin. It actually works like a primer I guess. Once applied, the skin looks very smooth and brightened. I have got to say that in the first 2 weeks I tried this, the brightening effect wasn’t there. I even mentioned to one of my friends, Abidha (from Abidha Ayyoob’s blog) to not bother buying this product!. However, now it’s been over a month and a half and I do find that my skin looks slightly brightened with it’s continuous use. The smoothing effect is only temporary. It contains Vitamin C rich Amazonian camu camu and Brazil nut oil.
The plastic bottle comes with a pump which is always a huge plus. I take just one and a half pumps for my face. So this product will definitely last me quite some time. It is supposed to be applied over your moisturizer. I apply it mainly in the daytime and only sometimes at night. Though I like it, I am not sure I will repurchase it. I thought this product is pretty concentrated (thus expensive) and will change my skin in a significant way. However, that hasn’t happened. It costs AED 106 for 30ml. I bought it from The Body Shop, Abu Dhabi Mall, Abu Dhabi.
Hair care
1) Almond oil from Well’s – Almond oil is rich in Vitamin E, which is an antioxidant. It can be used both on skin and hair. However, I bought it intending to use it mainly for my hair and that’s why it’s listed under ‘Hair care’. It helps in promoting hair growth, lessens hair loss and gives it a shiny, frizz free look. Well’s is from Spain. It costs AED10 for 200ml (which is really reasonable when looking at other brands’ prices). Detailed review later on.
2) Extraordinary Oil from Loreal Paris Elvive : This is a brand new product from Loreal Paris. I have never used any hair products of Loreal. However, when I saw an ad for this product, I straight away went and bought it!. Talk about marketing!. Here is the ad in case you missed it..
It just looks so thick, luxurious and nice!. I had to have it. There are two types. One for ‘All Hair Types’ and the other for ‘Colored hair’ (this one contains some ingredients that preserves the color and makes it look more vibrant). Obviously, I bought the former one. As as introductory offer, it’s price has been slashed by 20%. It costs AED36.70, at the moment. I bought it from Lulu Center, Mazyad Mall, Abu Dhabi. Do check it out while it’s still on offer. I gotta say one thing though. I saw this same product (with the 20% discount) being sold for AED34.50 in Lulu Center, Al Barsha, Dubai. I just don’t get the price differences on the same products being different from branch to branch!. Detailed review later on.
Earrings
1) Green and purple tear drop earrings – Purple is one of my fav colors. I have many purple colored dresses too. So when I saw this, I thought it will go nicely with those dresses. Green looked too nice to pass. The other color available was orange which didn’t look nice at all. This one costs AED6 per pair. For it’s design (with clear rhinestones on it), that price is very reasonable. So I got 2 pairs for my sis in law too. It looks far better in real than in the pic below!. I bought these from Lulu Center, Madinat Zayed, Abu Dhabi.
2) Gold and brown large earrings – My sis in law is a huge fan of large earrings. She looks stunning and very feminine wearing it. I usually wear medium sized silver earrings. For a change, I decided to buy a heavy large one. The design is so gorgeous and very much Indian. It costs AED39 and I bought it from Safeer Mall, Abu Dhabi. However, they do have a 25% discount happening right now in the earrings section (and probably in other sections too, but I didn’t check that out). So I got this one for AED29.25. Safeer Mall has a really nice collection of earrings at any given time.
Gifts
1) Recreation Froggy Fun Baby Pool from Intex – This is such a cute pool for a baby between 1 -3 years of age. I bought this as a gift for my nephew. He just turned 1 year old!. I bought it from Mumzworld.com, from where I have previously purchased too. As usual, my package came in 2 days. I just love their service!. Here is the picture of the pool from the site.
Here is a pic I took of my little nephew sitting in it. Sorry for the dark pic 😦
It costs AED 53 for the product + AED 23 for the shipping + AED 9 for gift wrapping. Totally, AED85. Still worth it, I would say. It’s just adorable. Here is the gift wrapped box (with a handwritten note that contains the message you can type out while placing the order):
It’s really neatly packed and very festive too. However, charging AED 9 for gift wrapping is too much I think. Maybe AED 5. Yeah, that would probably be OK. Anyways, I loved this product. Click here to go directly to this product listing. If you register now on their site, you will get a voucher for AED50. This is a limited time offer.
2) Shea Shower, Scrub & Soften collection from The Body Shop : It was my mom’s birthday too this month. As I mentioned earlier, I love Shea. So I bought this complete set of Shea products, which comes in a festive gifting box. My mom loved it!. She is a fan of such skincare items just like me. This box, which is best for dry skin, contains :
- Shea Shower Cream 250ml
- Shea Soap 100g
- Shea Body Scrub 50ml
- Shea Body Butter 50ml
- Loofah
It costs AED99. I bought this from The Body Shop, Mirdif City Center, Dubai.
3) Polarized green Ray-ban sun-glass – It’s my first time shopping on Souq. It went smooth and am so glad it did. I bought this as a gift for my husband for the New year. He deserves it and more for being such a great guy plus the sun-glass he had, broke recently!. I bought it from a seller called karthikgcc (he had a 57% positive rating at the time I placed the order. If you know how to really read through the ratings of a seller, you will know whether to trust that seller or not) and I should say he is a very good seller. The item was just as it was described on the site. The shipping took a week’s time which is OK (Seriously speaking,I expected it to be a lot longer than that). It came in a nice box, with some papers and a cleaning cloth.
It costs AED399 for the product + AED12 for the shipping. Totally, AED411. Click here to go directly to this product listing. This very same Ray-ban sells for AED1266 in the local market (optical shops).
Miscellaneous
1) Miswak herbal toothpaste from Dabur – I have previously discussed how important oral care is. My fav toothpaste, Paradontax was just getting over. So I decided to buy another tube of it. But then I noticed this herbal toothpaste from Dabur. I have used it before (a really long time ago) and it’s taste is very pleasant. I got reminded of the taste and when I saw that it had a discount too, I decided to buy it.
It contains pure extract of Al-arak- the famous toothbrush tree used for centuries. The astringent and anti-bacterial properties of Al-arak help reduce tooth decay, fight plaque, ensure healthy gums, strong teeth from roots and fresh breath. It costs only AED3.10 for a 170gms (120 gms + free 50 gms) tube!. I bought it from Lulu Center, Al Barsha, Dubai.
2) Folio Easy Pill Traveler from Sabi – When I saw this pill organizer, I felt like it would be a perfect gift for my father. I have seen him cut out the necessary number of tablets from a strip of tablets and pop it in his pocket while he is going out. I felt like this sleek and handy pill organizer would help him much. However, he politely refused to accept it because he kind of felt that the tablets might lose it’s freshness if taken out of the strip and put in a container!. Very sad :(. However, I am glad he atleast didn’t accept it and then just stow it away without using it!.
So I decided that I will use it. I love taking vitamins. You know that from a previous post of mine. I do travel regularly between Abu Dhabi – Sharjah, visiting my family. Instead of taking my vitamin tabs in the container that it comes in, I can just pop the necessary number of tabs in this organizer and am good to go!. I bought it from Wamli (I told you guys before I will definitely purchase something again from this site!). The service is amazing. Got my package in 2 days, nicely bubble wrapped.
It looks like a sleek black book!. Sabi is a US based brand.
This is BPA free which means your tablets wont react with the container or any chemicals in it and become toxic. There are 14 compartments, two each for each day of the week. They are really deep and can contain large tablets too. Once closed, even if you shake it around, the pills are not going to go from one compartment to another. So, if you take different pills for different days of the week, don’t worry about it getting mixed up.
Here is a pic from the site
It costs AED128.45 with free shipping. Click here to go directly to this product listing (Currently out of stock. I bought the last piece!).
3 & 4) Rowse Organic pure honey & Dabur Pure honey – I am planning to have cinnamon powder and honey on empty stomach in the mornings and see if I can really benefit from it. For that purpose, I bought this organic honey from the UK brand Rowse. It’s really thick and has an intense, strong taste. I bought the Dabur pure honey because I like using honey in my one of my fav facials and the one I was using got over.
I have never bought organic honey before because it’s way too expensive always. However, the Rowse honey cost AED19 for 340gms and I thought it’s the best time to try it out. It’s really thick and tasty. If you buy this, just mix first before tasting. I bought it from Lulu Center, Mazyad Mall, Abu Dhabi.
The Dabur honey tastes very sweet. It’s from the flowers of the Himalayas. It costs AED7.45 for 250gms and I bought it from Nesto Hypermarket, Sharjah. Both these honeys come in glass jars, which can be reused once it’s over. I just love it!
5) Kholapuri sandals – This is my first time buying sandals like this one!. It’s very pretty and comfortable to wear. It costs AED40 and I bought it from the Indian pavilion, Global Village, Dubai. The actual cost of this one is AED55. However, at DSF (Dubai Shopping festival) you gotta bargain like I have told you before. We actually bought 2 pairs and probably that’s why the seller gave it for AED40 each. The other pair was for my sis in law. FYI : This time, DSF entry tickets cost AED15.
The funny thing about these sandals is that the first time you wear it, it’s just so uncomfortable. But later on, the more you wear it, the more comfortable it gets. The funnier part is that they don’t have left – right distinction. You can wear each one of them either on your left leg or your right. It’s just the same!
6) Lamya concentrated oil perfume from Nabeel – I love the scent of this perfume. It’s an oud like smell mixed with the smell of roses. It’s very feminine. A little goes a long way with this product. The smell is strong and lasts for quite a long time. But still, its not so strong that it gives you a headache.
The bottle is very pretty and small. It has a rose on the lid.
Once you open it, you will see that it has a glass rod attached to the top. This perfume is slightly thick (because it’s a concentrated oil) and thus a glass rod is perfect for applying it to your skin rather than spraying it.
It’s a product made in UAE and is free from alcohol. It costs AED28.75 for the 20ml bottle and I bought it from Safeer Mall, Abu Dhabi.
7) Raspberry preserve from Bonne Maman – I am not a fan of jams. In the past 10 years, probably I would have tasted jam 3 times, that too when my mom insisted on it. I think they are just loaded with sugar and am not a fan of that. Anyways, on my recent visit to Abu Dhabi, my mom insisted I try this preserve (preserves are just like jam but it contains small chunks/parts of the fruit itself) from Bonne Maman. I am a huge fan of berries of any kind, so when I saw it’s Strawberry, I tried it and that’s when I fell in love!. It was just soo good. The seeds of the strawberry was present in them too. So delicious!. Mom had bought the Fig flavored one too but am not a fan of figs and didn’t like it when I tasted it. I also got a mini version of the Apricot flavored one from McDonalds when I had breakfast from there. It was lovely.
So next time I went shopping I decided to buy the Raspberry one and the taste is intense, concentrated and overall, amazing!. It too contains the pips or the seeds of raspberry. It’s so easy to spread them on to bread. I would suggest you use a multigrain bread (like from the brand L’usine) because then it just becomes more wholesome and crunchy. I like having this fruit preserve on it’s own too!. One downside of it is that one tablespoon of this product is 50 calories!!
The packaging is gorgeous. A heavy glass jar with a pretty print of the lid. It comes in other flavors like Fig, Apricot, Cherry, Bitter Orange, Strawberry etc. It costs AED15 for a 370gms glass jar and I bought it from Lulu Center, Al Barsha, Dubai.
8) Eye Lotion (with Eye bath) from Optrex – With the continuous use of the computer, my Samsung Galaxy tab and contact lenses, my eyes are bound to be tired and dry at the end of the day!. That’s where this eye lotion comes in handy. It’s a clear solution which you pour into the small eye bath that comes with it. Then you bend forwards, hold it against your eyes and roll eyes from side to side in the solution. It immediately soothes, cools and refreshes your eyes. I just love this product. I had seen some people using it on Youtube. But never gave it a second thought until my friend Praseena of Coral Crue, reviewed this product. I knew then, I had to get it too. Thanks Praseena!
I thought of using it every night. However, I saw that in that way, I will be done with this product in no time. So I use it only on the nights that I wear contact lenses or if my eyes are really tired. I highly recommend this product. It costs AED23 and I bought it from Aster Pharmacy, Safeer Mall, Abu Dhabi.
That brings us to the end of this haul. Hope you liked it!
Love,
Naz
Note : If you haven’t entered my ongoing giveaways, do it now when there is still time. For the UAE only giveaway, click here and international giveaway, click here. Ends on Jan 1st, 2014. Good luck!
nazninazeez 